That's a very conscientious thread, folks.
Pertaining to Canada these are snippets of policy directives I work under...
.../
Deleting mail from a trash bin on a periodic basis is good practice if
that is what the Mail Address Owners in your group know will happen to
mail stored in 'trash folders'. The appearance of intent is that consent
(of the mail owner when sending mail to 'trash") is given to the Mail
System Administrator to cause the item(s) to be destroyed. There may
even be a reasoned expectation that 'deleted mail' is immediately
destroyed although mail storage in trash folders should be 'temporary'
and is (optionally) often indicated as such.
Email may in fact be hard to destroy absolutely. Expectations should not
be raised higher than this. Many people think that if they delete their
e-mail it is gone forever. This is generally not so as most electronic
documents are periodically backed up and are thereby recoverable within
a set period. The best administrative practice is to adopt a transparent
procedure and schedule for 'trash mail handling'; communicate to all
system users what that procedure is to be; periodically remind users of
this or any changes to the procedure, and on the prescribed schedule,
implement the procedure.
Whereas it is likely bad practice to delete mail marked 'trash' where no
notifications of such actions are established nor any consent given by
the mail address owner (i.e.: user option somewhere selected "Empty
trash folder on logout.") it is also an issue of privacy to cause mail
an owner has assigned for destruction to be retained for a prolonged
period. Adopt a periodic routine for deleting 'trash' mail, advise all
users that trash is not retained beyond the period and then adhere to
this principle.
.../
I think we are all on the same page, pretty much.
Mike
Micah Stevens wrote:
Hello,
there is a difference. deleting via imap just "moves" them to the trash
folder but in fact does not remove the mail from your account yet until
the user does empty the trash folder.
but he suggested deleting the content of the trash folder even if the
user does not empty it! THIS is a violation against federal law. there
is a difference between an existing mail and a "rest" of a deleted mail
in the system.
I understand the initial statement.
How far do you take this? Seems silly to me. The intent of a trashcan is
clearly 2 things, a temporary storage mechanism to allow for the oops
factor, and to mark items as not needed. If you provide for the oops
factor, I think this is perfectly fair.
(1) i do not make the law
(2) its not silly its a protection of peoples privacy
(3) i dont want ppl tellin me what to delete and when. it should be
*only* my decision. ;)
1) I'm sure that's true.
2) Privacy? Hmm.. I'll have to think about that one. Seems a strange stand to
make considering all the other affronts on privacy that go on. Not that it
makes this any less valid, it just seems a strange priority.
3) No one told you to put it in the trash can. If you want long-term storage,
make an archive folder. If the system functionality includes a trash folder
that maintains mail for undeleting for 30 days, and you put it in there and
then sue me for removing it, that makes no sense to me still.
Another example of government being silly IMHO..
depends of your point of view. e.g. if you are the postmaster or the
user...
Everything is relative, and dependant on perspective.
-Micah
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