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Government

Jan. 18, 2012

Email deletion policies are a blow to public accountability

Currently, local state agencies are not required to retain public records for a certain amount of time. By Philip J. Hess


The citizens of Anaheim recently learned from the Los Angeles Times that their planning department staff had been ordered to delete email from their files immediately or face disciplinary action. An agency manager explained that this policy would avoid disclosure of messages with negative remarks about city staff, decision makers or property owners.


This deletion policy is a blow to public accountability. When people are upset with the actions of thei...

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