Deterring government officials’ misuse of private e-mail

[Commentary] Hillary Clinton’s widely publicized misuse of private e-mail for official correspondence should be used to spur reforms to deter such behavior among high-level government officials. By using private rather than government e-mail systems, Clinton and other high-level government officials seek enhanced control of public records concerning their job performance. This control prevents potentially embarrassing work e-mails from becoming public. Such control can be attained by using a hosted e-mail server such as Gmail or Outlook, or, as Clinton used, a home-based e-mail server. Using a hosted e-mail server is much more widespread because of its greater convenience and lower cost. But both types of server can be equally effective in selectively shielding work e-mails from public scrutiny.

Much of law enforcement has always been based on motivating witnesses and co-conspirators to whistle blow, partly by providing them with some immunity for doing so. It is long past time when this principle should have been applied to curb the abuses of high level government officials using private e-mail systems to shield their official work from public scrutiny.

[Snider, a former American Political Science Association Congressional fellow in Communications and Public Policy, is the president of iSolon.org]