Michigan Senate passes bill to end state use of text encryption apps that can evade FOIA – Detroit Free Press

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LANSING The Michigan Senate gaveapproval Tuesday to a bill that would ban the use on state-issued phones of text messaging encryption apps that can be used to evade the Michigan Freedom of Information Act.

The Senate approved House Bill 4778 in a 35-0 vote. A version of the bill earlier passed the state House with unanimous support. Because the wording of the bill was changed in the Senate, it must now return to the House for concurrence before it is sent to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer for her signature.

The bills sponsor, Rep. Steve Johnson, R-Wayland, told a Senate committee in September he saw the need for the bill after reading a series of articles in the Free Press about the use of Signal by top officials at the Michigan State Police.

Signal is an "end-to-end" encryption app, meaning it bypasses the state server and the company that provides the app keeps no record of the text messages sent. Once deleted, text messages sent using Signal are essentially gone without a trace evading both the Michigan Freedom of Information Act and legal discovery.

More: Lawmakers fired up over encryption app used by MSP that can evade Michigan FOIA

More: MSP director to officers: Remove text messaging app Signal from state phones

Thats a problem, said Johnson, who is chairman of the House Oversight Committee. It deletes the whole purpose of FOIA if you can permanently delete something.

The head of the MSP, Col. Joseph Gasper, in February told officers to remove the app from their phones.

The bill the Senate passed Tuesday wouldextend the ban to all state agencies.

The ban wouldnot apply to state lawmakers or their staff, since the Legislature is exempt from FOIA. It would also not apply to Whitmer or her staff, since the governor's office is also exempt.

Contact Paul Egan: 517-372-8660 or pegan@freepress.com.Follow him on Twitter @paulegan4.Read more on Michigan politics and sign up for our elections newsletter.

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Michigan Senate passes bill to end state use of text encryption apps that can evade FOIA - Detroit Free Press