Harnessing cyber records: House to consider bill preserving White House e-mails
The U.S. House is scheduled to vote Wednesday on H.R. 5811 (Electronic Communications Preservation Act), which would require the U.S. Archivist to establish standards for the capture, management and preservation of White House e-mails, and to issue regulations requiring federal agencies to preserve e-mails in electronic form. This is great legislation, and SPJ decided today to join with OpenTheGovernment.org and other organizations to submit a letter of support for the bill today.
Probably-not-so-coincidentally, today the GAO issued a report revealing that federal agencies (Departments of Homeland Security, Housing and Urban Development, Environmental Protection Agency and Federal Trade Commission) are not complying with current requirements to preserve e-mail records. For a summary and link to the GAO report, see this Web site by U.S. Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif.
Incidentally, if you want to chime in with your thoughts to the powers at be on this, feel free to call or e-mail the big cheese who supports transparency, Waxman, chair of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform (contact info at: http://www.henrywaxman.house.gov/contact.htm). Or better yet, contact your representative (go to this House Web site and put in your zip code to find your representative's Web site and contact info). All too often, agencies use e-mail and easily deleted electronic records to hide important information that would help the public. Help stop delete-key secrecy!