An excerpt from my class discussion in Information Ethics.
Georgia, like many other states and the federal government in the US, has a terrible track record for compliance with open records laws. State agencies wait too long, don’t turn over all required documents, and often must be forced to comply by lawsuits filed by information-seeking parties like journalists. Sometimes, they’re found to be violating regulations that require the creation and storage of documents related to government operations. In 2022, Stephanie Ramage filed a lawsuit alleging the use of Signal for internal government communications (Murchison, 2022). While the end-to-end encrypted nature of Signal makes it seem like a good choice for that kind of communication, one of Signal’s key features is that it supports ephemeral texting, where messages sent are automatically deleted after they’re read. Since such communications can’t be stored for later disclosure, discussing some government operations this way denies citizens their right to know about what their government is doing. The time the GVRA was using Signal appears to coincide with some financial fraud (United States Department of Justice, 2022) going on there.
Access to information is a key tenant of transparency in a functional democracy. Governments have an ethical obligation to provide information about governance to their constituents. Whistleblower laws like the one that protects Ramage are just as crucial as the sunshine laws she’s reporting violations of.
Murchison, A. (2022, October 25). Whistleblower lawsuit claims state agency violating open records law by use of Signal app. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
United States Department of Justice. (2022, August 25). Former State of Georgia employee created phony clients with non-existent disabilities to steal over $1.3 million. https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndga/pr/dermattran-and-three-other-pharmacies-pay-over-68-million-settle-civil-claims