Interesting NPR story on the Florida state legislature’s battle with technology:
E-mails sent from a BlackBerry are easily tracked and archived by government servers. But the wireless devices can also send electronic messages in another way called “PINing,” and those communications often are not tracked. The practice stirred controversy last summer when staff members of Florida’s Public Service Commission were caught exchanging PIN messages with a lobbyist for a utility it regulates.
….State Sen. Mike Fasano remembers that at a committee meeting last year on property insurance, a lobbyist in the audience was sending to a senator’s BlackBerry questions to ask the office of insurance regulation. “That is, in my opinion, way out of line,” Fasano says.
G’boro residents have heard this story before.
