My $0.02. (Not stepping on Len, just keeping on the thread :-) That kind of thing was the source of the system we started. As we charge for database storage and archival, it quickly became prohibitively expensive to maintain (in the users's words) so they abandoned it. There are ways around the expense - archiving to CD etc - but in the end it's a matter of balancing the cost of maintaining records against the risk of legal action that requires those records, and the risks of privacy concerns etc.
On the privacy point, our council has made the "general" comment that it is accepted practice to consider all correspondence in any form generated or received on the work site or via work related facilities to be the property of that organization. This based on the theory that there is no "reasonable expectation of privacy". Your milage may vary - we're not lawyers here (there are probably some lurking). Another point of view is - it's it's not there - it's not there... that is, if there were no archived backups from which to recover the data then the point would be moot. This would depend upon the case and the nature of the information. Some records are required for up to n years etc... some are not required at all... Sometimes there is gray area. This is the best of my understanding. Hope this helps, _M | -----Original Message----- | From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] | [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] On Behalf Of tom | Sent: Friday, September 20, 2002 3:05 PM | To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] | Subject: RE: [IMail Forum] Email Records Management | | | Len, | | My boss gave me an article from "e-doc" magazine about a | legal case where the defendant faced the possibility of | having to recover the e-mail from fifteen employees from more | than 800 backup tapes. The defendant estimated that the cost | of resorting the tapes for search purposes at 1.1 to 1.7 | million. OUCH... | | My boss said "What are we doing about this?" | | To myself I said "Nothing". I told my boss I would look into | it. <grin> | | Tom | | -----Original Message----- | From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] | [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of Len Conrad | Sent: Friday, September 20, 2002 11:41 AM | To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] | Subject: Re: [IMail Forum] Email Records Management | | | | >I have been reading a lot about Email management and was | wondering what | >people are using to cope with this problem. | | I don't read those books, so I don't have the problem. | | > I am interested in policies and | >technologies that address the legal and technical challenge | of e-mail | >retention and recovery. In Scott Barman's book "Writing Information | >Security Policies" there is an example of an e-mail policy | that retains | >all e-mail for two years. | | who pays for that? | | >Does anyone do this right now? | | There were noises in the EU about requiring ISP's et al to | archive all mail, connection records, at their own | unsubsidized expense, but I lost track of where that went. I | think it was at least talked about in UK. | | >If yes, how do you retrieve all the e-mail from one person in a six | >month period? | | You don't retrieve it after delivered (did that book say to | do that?), you bcc all the original mail traffic and then | have big, weekly BBQ/beer party for all friends so they can | see who can find the most intimate/incriminating/perverse | mail for the past week. Bonus points for credit card number | and bank account passwords. Geeks can have fun, too. | | >I know Imail has the ability to copy all incoming and | outgoing e-mail | >to | one | >account. Are there any add-on products that will index and | archive all | >of that e-mail? | | Why bother ($time + $money) to index it? It would be already | expensive enough to capture/store the raw volume. If the | "alleged" police types want it, they should be smart enough | to index it themselves. | | Len | | | | To Unsubscribe: http://www.ipswitch.com/support/mailing-lists.html | List Archive: | http://www.mail-archive.com/imail_forum%| 40list.ipswitch.com/ | | Knowledge Base/FAQ: | http://www.ipswitch.com/support/IMail/ | | | To Unsubscribe: http://www.ipswitch.com/support/mailing-lists.html | List Archive: | http://www.mail-archive.com/imail_forum%| 40list.ipswitch.com/ | | Knowledge Base/FAQ: | http://www.ipswitch.com/support/IMail/ | | To Unsubscribe: http://www.ipswitch.com/support/mailing-lists.html List Archive: http://www.mail-archive.com/imail_forum%40list.ipswitch.com/ Knowledge Base/FAQ: http://www.ipswitch.com/support/IMail/
