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by sys13 2980 days ago
Does this make freedom of information requests less useful to the public?
5 comments

No. The information being securely stored does not mean users wouldn't have to turn over the information. However usually FoI doesn't usually apply to instant messaging anyway, I think.
In France, there is also no general Freedom of Information law, except for some administrative documents.
Depending on the jurisdiction it's an offence to withhold or destroy information that is meant to be available under FoI.
I sure as hell hope so. Otherwise, what's the point of FoI in the first place?
Judging from http://www.ucl.ac.uk/constitution-unit/research/foi/countrie... it is already not useful. However theoretically, yes. It is hard to discover which encrypted communications are potentially relevant, and if the officials in question are doing something wrong then they have no cause to cooperate.
What do you mean ?
If progressively more governmental communications are made through encrypted means, we cannot access them as citizens.
If they're subject to records retention requirements, they should be retained anyway; and if they're not, they're in the same category as things like phone calls which are currently ephemeral.

(Note that in first world countries phone calls will be digital everywhere except maybe the last mile, and GSM and upwards are digital to the handset)

End to End encrypted does not mean the messages have to be stored and retained encrypted and inaccessible. I imagine the responsible sysadmins have figured out something to follow retention laws.
You're not supposed to be able to access any and every government communication. You're not supposed to know what the nuke codes are, or when there's an undercover mission in progress, or [insert punchline here].

Presumably, if there's an investigation, they just force the government employee to give up the keys.

Yeah, end-to-end encryption is strange here. Aren't there laws in France to ensure retention of government employee communications?
And this is somewhat okay. Though in my opinion there should be some way to lawfully intercept, this brings us back to the same dilemma as with private messaging.
Thanks, I understand but those communications are not supposed to be accessible. This tool will be used by top level gouvernement employees.
Indeed
Freedom of information....which amendment is that :P ?
This is France we're talking about, so it's not amendments, but rather Article XV of the "Déclaration des droits de l'homme et du citoyen de 1789": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Declaration_of_the_Rights_of_t... ("The society has the right of requesting an account from any public agent of its administration."), which is used as the basis for actual legislation today: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/constitution-unit/research/foi/countrie...
I am sorry, I am not french. I thought this is some stupid American law which every Americans expect the rest of the world to know.
Article 34, apparently, although I can't really see how it's interpreted from the text.

http://www.conseil-constitutionnel.fr/conseil-constitutionne...

http://www.ucl.ac.uk/constitution-unit/research/foi/countrie...