Name: LADOT general manager used encrypted messaging for controversial tracking program
Brand: dailynews.com
SKU: dailynews-com-8
Availability: OnlineOnly

critic

LADOT general manager used encrypted messaging for controversial tracking program

preview

By | | Pasadena Star NewsThe general manager of the Los Angeles Department of Transportation used an encrypted messaging application, designed to conceal conversations, while planning out a controversial vehicle tracking program that has resulted in lawsuits from Uber and the American Civil Liberties Union, according to records obtained by this news organization.The use of Signal, a popular messaging app capable of deleting messages automatically, isn’t inherently problematic, but Seleta Reynolds did not keep copies of those conversations as required by the California Public Records Act and Los Angeles’ own retention policy.“Signal, and other encrypted apps, are akin to keeping a shredder in the office and shredding every document that passes through a public official’s desk,” said David Snyder, executive director of the First Amendment Coalition. “If public officials are using apps that either destroy records automatically, or otherwise make them inaccessible, they are violating the Public Records Act.”The public has a right those records, regardless of where they are stored, Snyder said. The California Supreme Court in 2017 public officials must retain all records related to public business, even when the records only exist on personal accounts and devices.Both the state and city of Los Angeles require public employees to keep such documents for at least two years. That doesn’t appear to have happened in this case.LADOT found “no responsive records” following a request for copies of Reynolds’ conversations on the app, according to spokesman Colin Sweeney.In a statement, Sweeney defended the use of Signal.“Like most executives today, Ms. Reynolds uses a variety of tools to communicate and complies with all public records laws,” Sweeney said in a statement. “Signal is a messaging app used for quick and informal communication. As stated, LADOT fully complies with all CPRA requirements.”Sweeney did not respond to an email asking for evidence of that compliance.Reynolds was appointed by Mayor Eric Garcetti in 2014 and has championed a data-driven modernization of the city’s transportation systems.Garcetti’s office did not respond to a request sent through his media relations team.Reynolds is behind the roll-out of the “Mobility Data Specification” program, which drew the ire of Uber and the ACLU this year because the data collected by the program could theoretically be used to track individuals using dockless scooters and bikes. The plan is to eventually expand the program to track ride-hailing programs such as Uber and Lyft. Officials say they don’t collect identifying information, but their opponents argue enough is collected to piece together someone’s identity.In a complaint filed in March, Uber argued the data collection violated the Fourth Amendment, which prohibits unlawful searches and seizures, according to . The ACLU launched earlier this month, alleging the program could reveal “detailed, sensitive and private information about riders.” They claimed it could, for example, be used in conjunction with other surveillance technologies to track protesters.Though the exact contents of Reynolds’ Signal conversations are unknown, emails obtained by the Southern California News Group showed Reynolds used the privacy-focused app to discuss MDS, a program criticized for its alleged invasion of privacy.In one May 2019 email, consultant John Ellis, a behind the creation of MDS, indicates he is following up “on our Signal session last night.” The email includes a number of talking points for a call with a contractor picked to maintain MDS’ API, the programming interface that acts as an intermediary between various applications that would collect or utilize the data.Ellis, a former technologist at Ford who now has a multiyear contract with the city of Los Angeles, let Reynolds know he’d also be available on Signal during the call if she needed him.Reynolds isn’t the only person who appears to use Signal in the upper echelon of LADOT. A separate email sent to several city employees similarly encouraged them to contact Ellis on Signal with any questions.The emails make it clear that those conversations related directly to city business and should have been retained.Mohammad Tajsar, a senior staff attorney at the ACLU working on the lawsuit against the LADOT, said his organization isn’t against public officials using apps like Signal and might even encourage it, but that doesn’t absolve officials of their responsibility to comply with the California Public Records Act.The MDS program is one of “potentially global concern,” Tajsar said. While it started in Los Angeles, it has since expanded to other cities nationwide. Concerns about the privacy implications of that data collection have grown alongside it.“Public information laws are even more important in the context of hugely controversial programs like MDS, and you would hope cities in California and outside of California would conduct themselves in a manner that is transparent and open, particularly if they’re planning on developing systems that have the potential to surveil and track ordinary community members in the way that MDS does.”We invite you to use our commenting platform to engage in insightful conversations about issues in our community. We reserve the right at all times to remove any information or materials that are unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane, indecent or otherwise objectionable to us, and to disclose any information necessary to satisfy the law, regulation, or government request. We might permanently block any user who abuses these conditions.Get the latest news delivered daily!Follow UsMost PopularClose

By | | Pasadena Star NewsThe general manager of the Los Angeles Department of Transportation used an encrypted messaging application, designed to conceal conversations, while planning out a controversial vehicle tracking program that has resulted in lawsuits from Uber and the American Civil Liberties Union, according to records obtained by this news organization.The use of Signal, a popular messaging app capable of deleting messages automatically, isn’t inherently problematic, but Seleta Reynolds did not keep copies of those conversations as required by the California Public Records Act and...

public

Jason Henry

gqlshare

Reporting the news in LA since 1911. Subscribe here to support local journalism: http://checkout.dailynews.com.

LADOT general manager used encrypted messaging for controversial tracking program

No article scores yet.

CRITIC REVIEWS

PUBLIC REVIEWS