As we read about our clowntastic predatory regime conducting its war planning on unauditable untraceable private networks, I am reminded again of the training I got in info security, the handling of sensitive information, and the ethical expectations for federal employees.
At 18F we worked in the open and welcomed scrutiny.
As a fully remote organization, we used Slack heavily for everything from planning work, to sharing hard-won knowledge, to “water cooler conversation.” There was no concern about it being a channel that the public could make a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to access — we worked with the expectation of everything being public. Our regular all-hands meetings were always recorded, and we even instituted a tradition called the “FOIA wave.” Everyone waved to the camera as one of us announced:
“We work in the open, and that includes this biweekly staff meeting. We have no fear of the press here, and we welcome all viewers, inside and out of the government. So, hello from [Month Day, Year], future viewer! We knew you might be watching and we’re glad you’re here!”