Attorney general raises ante on public record keeping. Will the legislature follow suit?
by Michael C. Bender | September 15th, 2009Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum today said messages sent between Blackberry devices, known as PINs, are indeed public records and that the state is capable of retaining the documents.
For years, PIN messages — regularly used among lobbyists, lawmakers and governor’s office officials — have fallen into a loophole in state Sunshine Laws because state officials have maintained the messages could not be recorded by government e-mail servers. (Press release here.)
McCollum, who is running for governor in 2010, said today that’s not true. He said PINs and other instant messages can be capture by, essentially, flipping a switch on a server. He said his agency would start keeping those records starting today and urged Gov. Charlie Crist, his fellow Cabinet members, state agencies and the legislature to do the same.
“I think it’s a great idea,” Crist said later in an interview with The Palm Beach Post. “We’ll follow suit.”
The legislature has already exempted itself from many of the state’s public record laws, but the area of Blackberry instant messages and so-called “PINs.” PINs are messages sent between Blackberrys using the devices personal identification number. State officials have long maintained that those messages, routinely used among lobbyists, lawmakers and governor’s office officials, are not recordable.
The issue bubbled to the surface this month when Public Service Commission Chairman Matt Carter banned his staff from e-mailing or texting with regulated companies.
The panel is facing a firestorm of criticism after commissioners’ aides swapped their PINs with a Florida Power & Light Co. attorney, allowing them to communicate without creating a public record, even during hearings.
Tags: Bill McCollum, Blackberry, PIN, public records, Sunshine Laws
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September 15th, 2009 at 1:56 pm
The real question is whether any PIN retention policy instituted by the Governor or AG will apply to all of the RPOF blackberries carried by their staff.
September 15th, 2009 at 3:08 pm
The legislators will easily circumvent this problem. They will simply use personal blackberries or ones paid for by their CCE.
September 15th, 2009 at 3:14 pm
If these people had the integrity or common sense of a gnat they would never use PINS or anything to circumvent the law.
This will change nothing. This country is now allegedly run by crooks in suits for the most part.
Give me a break…they all are attorneys…their whole reason for living is to circumvent the laws or game the system….at least most of America probably believes that now base don their lack of leadership.
September 15th, 2009 at 3:27 pm
Your concerned about the RPOF… Last time I checked they were a PAC and not a governmental agency. If they comunicate with a goverment official then it is up to that officials office to retain the records and not the RPOF or any other PAC or lobbying org..
September 15th, 2009 at 4:03 pm
any backup of the blackberry so if lost the address book, calender, and previous messages can be restored, will also have any pin communications,
your first year cell phone tech could tell you that,
September 15th, 2009 at 8:57 pm
Haha…at first, I thought this article was saying that the government was going to record ALL text messages, even between private citizens, and deem the messages “public” information. But then I realized the government would “never” do such a thing.
September 16th, 2009 at 5:14 am
The Attorney General is correct, logging BlackBerry PIN and SMS messaging is pretty much as easy as flipping a switch and has been so for a while:
http://www.blackberry.com/btsc/search.do?cmd=displayKC&docType=kc&externalId=KB05024
However, the logs are pretty messy and difficult to analyze. We always recommend a 3rd party tool to make searching and auditing fast yet secure:
http://www.retainarchiving.com
Tools like these even integrate with email archiving systems that are probably already in use.
Just like email forms part of the public record, so can PIN and SMS messages, especially when it is this straightforward.
Sure, law breakers will always try and circumvent policies and controls, but that doesn’t mean we should make it easy.