For the past few years, public records archiving has become so vague that many state governments are now implementing new rules to control the rise of new communication platforms. While public records archiving is usually done in big companies, not everyone understands why it should be done. With the addition of these new rules come a lot of issues for public offices. These issues have come from the myths associated with public records archiving, and we compiled them to finally clear the air and let the truth be known.
First of all, it is not crucial to record SMS messages, but archiving text messages is part of public records law. Government sectors need to make a solution that will let them capture and record mobile SMS of their employees in order to stay compliant. Another common mistake is that the government can rely on carrier networks when it comes to retaining mobile communications. Carrier networks are not obliged to retain records of their customer’s mobile communications. They also do not archive messages for long-term by default.
It is also not true that there is a definite period of retention for mobile messages. The retention period for electronic records will varydepending on the state you are located in. Lastly, it is not true that banning text messaging at work is key to compliance.However, the no-texting policy is not an FOIA and public records defense.
To learn more about these common myths about public records archiving, here’s an infographic by Telemessage.
