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The use of a secure communications app by the Children, Youth and Families Department that routinely encrypts and deletes communications between staffers is more than troubling. One child advocacy organization calls it “outrageous.” The attorney general says it’s “highly concerning.” And an open government organization likens it to shredding public documents, raising the possibility it constitutes a crime.
In contrast to standard texts or emails, which can be accessed by attorneys, lawmakers, reporters and the public under the state’s Inspection of Public Records Act or discovery in a court case, messages sent via Signal are all but impossible to retrieve once deleted, leaving virtually no trace of a conversation. Use of Signal by CYFD was disclosed by Searchlight New Mexico, an investigative news organization.