By Rachel Leingang | Arizona Capitol Times
Technology’s rapid advances in the past decade haven’t bypassed lawmakers and public officials, and new methods that purport to destroy communications may pose a threat to the retention of public records.
Presidential hopeful Rand Paul conducted an interview with a reporter entirely on Snapchat in January. Republican Congressman Sean Duffy of Wisconsin uses Snapchat to communicate with his staff to “help keep everything on track,” CNN reported in February.
Snapchat is a messaging app for smartphones that allows users to send photos and messages to one another, which are deleted by the app 10 seconds after they are viewed.
But it’s unclear how public records compliance works with smartphone applications and social media accounts, or if government officials are using third-party services to conduct public business.
