Posted on 04/12/2017 11:22:31 AM PDT by jazusamo
Full title: Judicial Watch Sues EPA for Communications Records of Officials Who May Have Used Cell Phone Message Encryption App to Thwart Government Oversight
(Washington, DC) Judicial Watch today announced it filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit for communications sent or received by EPA officials who may have used the cell phone encryption application Signal to thwart government oversight and transparency. The suit was filed in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia ( Judicial Watch v. Environmental Protection Agency (No. 1:17-cv-00533)).
The lawsuit was filed after the EPA failed to respond to Judicial Watchs February 3, 2017 FOIA request seeking:
The use of Signal by EPA officials to prevent government oversight was reported in a February 2, 2017, Politico article entitled Federal workers turn to encryption to thwart Trump. According to the article:
Whether inside the Environmental Protection Agency, within the Foreign Service, on the edges of the Labor Department or beyond, employees are using new technology to organize letters, talk strategy, or contact media outlets and other groups to express their dissent.
*** Fearing for their jobs, the employees began communicating incognito using the app Signal shortly after Trumps inauguration.
*** [T]he goal is to create a network across the agency of people who will raise red flags if Trumps appointees do anything unlawful.
This new lawsuit could expose how the anti-Trump deep state embedded in EPA is working to undermine the rule of law, said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. Lets hope the Trump administration enforces FOIA and turns over these records. Given EPAs checkered history on records retention and transparency, it is disturbing to see reports that career civil servants and appointed officials may now be attempting to use high-tech blocking devices to circumvent the Federal Records Act and the Freedom of Information Act altogether.
Signal has long been touted within the high-tech community as an encryption device particularly effective for blocking government access to smartphone messaging. In a 2015 article entitled Signal Keeps Your I-Phone Calls and Texts Safe from Government Oversight, TechCrunch.com advised , Dont want someone else handing your text messages, pictures, video or phone conversations over to the government? Theres an app for that. An iOS app called Signal is a project out of Open Whisper Systems, a not-for-profit collective of hackers dedicated to making it harder for prying government eyes to get a hold of your information.
The use of private encryption software such as Signal by federal officials and employees not only may make it difficult for their work to be overseen; it also may make it impossible for federal agencies to fulfill their record-keeping and transparency obligations under the Federal Records and Freedom of Information Acts. The Federal Records Act requires federal employees to preserve all records of work-related communications on government servers, even if such communications occur over non-government emails, phones or text messages. The records must be forwarded on to the agency for preservation and archiving, and the records are subject to release under the Freedom of Information Act, unless specifically exempted.
The Environmental Protection Agency has a history of employees failing to preserve records and using private emails to conduct agency business or conducting official business through non-official communications channels:
Good combat strategy...When the enemy is down and helpless, apply killing blows...
I imagine using “Signal” during the 0bama reign starting in 2014 when it was released was not limited to just the EPA.
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