"The Department of Homeland Security has stopped using software that automatically captured text messages and saved trails of communication between officials, according to sworn court statements filed this week. Instead, the agency began in April to require officials to manually take screenshots of their messages to comply with federal records laws, citing cybersecurity concerns with the autosave software. The policy expects officials to first take screenshots of the text messages on their work phones,"
"send it to their work email, download it on their work computers and then run a program that would recognize the text to store it in searchable formats, according to the department's guidance submitted to the court. Under the Federal Records Act, government agencies are required to preserve all documentation that officials and federal workers produce while executing their duties. They have to make federal records available to the public under the Freedom of Information Act unless they fall under certain exemptions."
"And we've seen AUSAs rely on officers themselves to review their own devices for communications covered by discovery. In the LaMonica McIver case, for example, officers didn't turn over exculpatory texts until Judge Jamel Semper ordered supplemental discovery. It wasn't until November 26 - almost two weeks after Judge Jamel Semper ruled on McIver's immunity bid - that DOJ turned over texts copying this video, observing that it look"
Bill Essayli filed a response to David Huerta's motion to compel the government to produce metadata associated with evidence obtained against Huerta. DHS permitted and seemingly encouraged officers to use personal phones and Signal, and DHS discontinued automatic text-archiving last year. The agency began requiring officials to manually capture screenshots, email them to work accounts, download them to work computers, and run OCR to store searchable records. Federal law requires preservation of records and public availability under FOIA unless exempted. Prosecutors have sometimes relied on officers to self-review devices for discovery, with exculpatory texts disclosed only after judicial orders in at least one case.
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