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Patrick Howell O’Neill
@patrickhowelloneill.com

A mini-controversy periodically emerges about elected officials on Signal. It's rarely a nuanced discussion. The idea that using Signal is in and of itself shady is truly wacky. But elected officials conducting business in ways that escapes public records and oversight actually warrants attention

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Patrick Howell O’Neill
@patrickhowelloneill.com

But questionable reporting on this prevents a good discussion. I've seen big outlets say that Signal's e2ee are incompatible with record-keeping and freedom of information laws. Huh? Are we responding to FOIA by capturing data in transit? Must have missed that FOIA office capability

Patrick Howell O’Neill
@patrickhowelloneill.com

Using auto-deleting messages in private chats to conduct government business or hiding chats that should be responsive to record-keeping, that all needs attention. But some non-technical people get really weird about Signal and then about encryption and by the end of it the issue is garbled badly

Patrick Howell O’Neill
@patrickhowelloneill.com

withthat said, Signal is a landmark app first for delivering easy e2ee to the public but also because for most people, not public officials, auto-deleting messages is the smart thing to do from a security and privacy pov, making it normal and easy is great. I wish every app had this option.