Senate Bill 944 FAQ’s

1. How does the process of turning over messages to the university for preservation work?
   You can send the information to your UNTHSC email account and maintain the records in accordance with your office’s procedures to prevent inadvertent or automatic deletion.
2. What if my personal practice has been to “clean out” my text messages on a routine basis and I have deleted messages from my device between Sept. 1 and now?
   Check your device for a “trash” or “deleted” file and retrieve the messages.  If the messages are no longer on your device, you should begin a practice of routinely transferring future messages to a UNTHSC server or alternatively archiving public information on your device.
3. What about voice mail messages and the text transcripts generated by voice mails on certain device platforms?
   Employees are required to preserve public information regardless of the format in which it is received.  In this instance, an employee should preserve the voice mail and the transcript if it exists.
4. What happens if my phone reaches file capacity and can no longer hold archived files?
   You must take steps to preserve the archived public information and you may not delete it.  It is a good practice to regularly transfer public information on your personal device to a university provided storage system such as One Drive for Business or Office 365 to avoid this problem.
5. What if I get a new phone and all the messages are not or cannot be transferred from one device to the other?
   You are responsible for preserving information in all situations.  Before disposing of your old phone, you should ensure all public information stored on the device is transferred to a university provided storage system such as One Drive for Business or Office 365 or is otherwise given to the university to preserve.
6. If a Public Information Act request is made for messaging or files on a personal device, how should I give those to the university to fulfill my obligation to preserve the information? Will I have to surrender my phone or device?
   Employees do not have to surrender their personal devices.  Upon receipt of a request for information, the Public Information Office, part of the UNT System Office of General Counsel, notifies employees who may have information that is responsive to the request and asks them to search for the information. Each employee is individually responsible for searching for responsive information, wherever it may be, and for providing it to the Public Information Office.
7. How long do I have to provide the System Public Information Office information that is on my personal device after the university receives a public information request?
   Upon receipt of a public information request, the Public Information Office will let you know, in writing, the exact day you must send the information to the office.  Generally, you will have five (5) business days to retrieve the information from your device and send it to the Public Information Office.
8. What if I have questions about whether information on my personal device is public information?
   Remember that all information that relates to official UNTHSC business, regardless of where it is stored, is public information. When responding to a Public Information Act request, you should provide the Public information Office all information that might be public information. The Public Information Office will review the information and determine if the information you provided must be released or, in consultation with the appropriate UNTHSC officials, ask the Office of the Attorney General if the information can be protected from disclosure.   Learn more about the Public Information Act and responding to public information requests. 

 

This page was last modified on November 18, 2019