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Sorry, but no, there is no good thing to come from government using Signal. With its auto-deleting messages, that makes it illegal for government employees to u
by leptons 2y ago
Sorry, but no, there is no good thing to come from government using Signal. With its auto-deleting messages, that makes it illegal for government employees to use, and destroys transparency.
- CoastalCoder 2y agoI believe that's true for employees of the executive branch. Is it true for the other two?
- quantified 2y agoThe president can pardon anyone.
- JohnFen 2y agoWell, that's not strictly true. The president can't pardon people for convictions by state courts, for instance. Nor can the president issue pardons for presidential impeachments. It's not clear that a president can pardon himself, either, but that's not been tested in court so who knows?
- quantified 2y agoThanks, yes that is right. We may find out whether a president can pardon himself, but since his actions as president are not prosecutable, there's a lot of latitude for never needing a pardon.
- oniony 2y agoIllegal has no meaning for people who can pardon themselves and each other.
- ElevenLathe 2y agoIf anything having his appointees commit lots of public crimes is great for Trump because his pardon power then gives them a powerful incentive to please him personally.
- snowwrestler 2y agoAuto-deleting messages are not necessarily auto-illegal. Voice conversations are also auto-deleting but obviously they’re common among government employees. Officials are required to document decisions in an archival way. If they fail to do that, it is arguable that their failure to follow the law is the problem, not the messaging technology. I think it is in everyone’s interest to resist the assumption that chat and text messaging is intended to be a permanent record—even for govt officials.