The higher level story here is that the US government is simply unable to build software. You’ll notice that over the last 10 years there have been classified records scandals from politicians of both parties: it’s because the US government doesn’t have any communications tools even 1% as usable as anything from the iOS App Store.
The problem isn't in making "bad" software. The government has very specific requirements for communication related to security and preservation/documentation. They need communication tools that run off the public internet and maintain a detailed record of every message sent.
The problem today is that some (many?) politicians either don't understand or agree with those goals and pick more convenient tools that they may have been used to as a civilian.
That's a sorry excuse, one of these guys was part of this Signal chat on their mobile device while in Russia... an absolutely foolish move regardless of UX.
There was nothing necessary about the conversation that couldn't wait for a secure location. The government will go as far to set up a secure comms room in employees homes if needed, it's not like they don't know how to secure communication.
A lot of us have had to work within specific constraints for data security, I've had to make hour long trips because I forgot a secure laptop in my office. No one would have died if I did some work on my personal device, but I still went out of my way to follow procedure.
why would this be the higher level story? The US government doesn't build guns either, but they're capable of buying the appropriate one from the market.
There are more than enough enterprise chats out there with security levels ranging from "good enough if you trust a major US corp" (Teams DoD) to "complete paranoia" (finance communication apps with on-premise encryption/decryption modules plugged into your HSM)
When you design a feature for a business app, it has to be immculate, brain dead easy to use, and be explained 9 times in 3 different training seminars before anyone will figure it out.
Meanwhile, if the new hit filter on TikTok was buried under a hidden search, with a feature toggle, consent form and rotating secret password, end users would figure it out in 5 minutes.
Not merely imbeciles but imbeciles enacting a plan to own power and obliterate everything except for elite right wing extremists. This includes obliterating the non-white Trumper imbeciles and lower socioeconomic imbecile Trunpers who have not even the slightest clue that they're just servile tools.
The higher level story is that the administration deliberately used an app that circumvents records laws, lied about it under oath, and then did not take any accountability whatsoever for their actions. "Carelessness is contagious"
