Fact or Fiction – Common Misconceptions About Public Records Archiving
Access to federal records is a right exercised by citizens to keep them informed of the government’s conduct and to further their transparency. Laws like the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and State Open Record Laws allow anyone to request public records, especially when involving legal matters.
These open records even include the messages exchanged among public employees, colleagues, and constituents. While adaptations of the law vary from each state, local governments make sure they implement efficient public records archiving measures for compliance.
Tallahassee, Florida, Washington State, and Rock County, Wisconsin, are among the local governments that have improved their text archiving compliance over the recent years. They have utilized solutions to help the public sector keep up with the changing requirements that adapt to the equally changing technological environment.
With the increasing use of new communication platforms such as SMS, mobile applications, and online apps, retention of messages can be a challenge for federal agencies.
As mobile apps and carrier networks do not keep records of their customers’ communications, state governments look to using reliable archiving software like TeleMessage to ensure they can safely retain messaging content.
As local governments come up with solutions to address effective public records retention, several misconceptions can root from these issues and hinder the improvement of offices’ response to public records requests.
Awareness with these misconceptions allows one to understand better how public records archiving really work and how crucial it is, especially as a part of democracy. Below is a compilation of these common myths.
