Archiving Text Messages

  With the increased popularity of WhatsApp use in the workplace, the communication makeup of all components of modern society has been altered, including the government sector. For the past couple of years, government units all over the world have been quick in adopting mobile platforms, including secure chat apps with the aim to enhance collaboration and protect their communication lines. But with the enactment of the “Right to Know” Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), citizens can also request access to those communications. Even though it is still relatively new, WhatsApp has already faced intense scrutiny from various government entities as well as FOIA archiving advocates. The platform’s end-to-end encryption has managed to entice security-conscious individuals and arouse concern of abuse by some government officials to hide their conversations from law enforcement and public scrutiny. Although requesting archived WhatsApp chats remains a challenge in many nations, it has not...

FOIA, which in full stands for Freedom of information Act, generally provides any individual the statutory right, enforceable in court, for gaining access to government information in executive branch agency records. It is the legal tool that both private citizens and journalists have for furthering government transparency. More and more people these days have become aware of the fact that they have the right to access government records, including email, social media, text messages, instant messaging and phone calls that are related to the conduct of the government. For most government agencies, there are two challenges that are experienced when it comes to FOIA archiving , including timely response and record retention. The pressure of responding to FOIA requests is a never-ending challenge to these agencies. According to a study that was done by the Washington-based Center for Effective Government, the top fifteen agencies, which process the most requests from FOIA are stil...

FOIA archiving is very important especially to public sector organizations. These organizations are required to capture and store electronic communications in all forms. Apart from email, all other official records that include SMS/text messages, instant messages and social media messages need to be captured and stored. By doing so, organizations can rapidly respond to requests by using a single comprehensive solution. There are various things you will need to know if you decide to give FOIA archiving a try. First of all, you should know what it takes to make a FOIA request. Agencies are authorized to charge a fee associated with the processing of requests. However, there are some categories of requesters that cannot be charged these fees, or some cases waiver the fees can be waived or reduced. The different fee categories of FOIA include commercial, educational institution, non-commercial scientific institution and representatives of the news media. Another thig you wil...

Government officials are no longer ignoring the fact that a lot of people use personal mobile devices such as tablets and smartphones for work-related discussions.   Formerly unconventional means are being used by people to discuss business these days. It is not unusual for a city attorney to send an SMS message to their colleague instead of writing them an email or using an official city phone to do so. The messages that are being send using formerly unconventional means are increasingly being legally recognized as matters of public record, meaning that FOIA archiving in a proper manner is needed. In early 2011, the office of the Attorney General of Texas made a ruling that required text messages as well as emails that are sent between public officials to be considered public information subject to the Texas Public Information Act. Before this ruling was made, a city in Texas had received a request that required SMS messages and emails that are sent between the city’s c...