Hawaii's Open Records Agency Tackles Facebook Posts and Tweets
06/08/2011
Facebook.com
UPDATED 6/9/11 3:30 p.m.
As more people use social media to communicate with government, Hawaii's open records agency is calling on the public for suggestions on how to update the state's open records law to take into account platforms such as Twitter and Facebook.
The Office of Information Practices is asking government agencies and public interest groups for input into how the state's 23-year-old public records law ought to keep pace with the new technology.
"We recognize that there's all this new technology and it's being more widely used by people. So what should we do about it?" said OIP Director Cheryl Kakazu Park. "We haven't changed the law virtually since it was enacted (in 1988)."
All state and county boards are subject to Hawaii's open records and open meetings (also known as Sunshine) laws. The Hawaii Legislature exempted itself from the Sunshine law. 1
Neither the Sunshine or open records law has undergone a major review since their enactment in 1975 and 1988, respectively.
Because government officials increasingly use social media to communicate with the public, Parks says it raises questions about whether those activities should be incorporated into the open government laws.
