General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: I've noticed a contradiction [View all]Warren DeMontague
(80,708 posts)That said, ostensibly the reason for requiring the emails be retained on gov't servers is something called the "Federal Open Records Act"
Now, as Media matters notes here, the act wasn't updated to include the relevant material until 2014, so it doesn't apply to this situation. Even if it did, it wouldn't necessarily apply to a personal email account.
http://mediamatters.org/research/2015/03/03/the-new-york-times-deceptive-suggestion-that-hi/202726
But suggesting there is some underlying philosophical inconsistency or hypocrisy here, is wrong. There isn't.
At least one of the major reasons that gov't officials are supposed to keep their emails in a secure location is to preserve the ability of the public to have access to them, not to prevent it.