New Federal Rules: Your Company MUST Track Your E-Mails, IM's, Other Electronic Info

[TXCharlie]

http://www.nbc5i.com/news/10439274/detail.html

POSTED: 7:50 am CST December 1, 2006

WASHINGTON -- U.S. companies will need to keep track of all the e-mails, instant messages and other electronic documents generated by their employees thanks to new federal rules that go into effect Friday, legal experts say.

Discussion: How Do You Use Work Computers?

The rules, approved by the Supreme Court in April, require companies and other entities involved in federal litigation to produce "electronically stored information" as part of the discovery process, when evidence is shared by both sides before a trial.


The change makes it more important for companies to know what electronic information they have and where. Under the new rules, an information technology employee who routinely copies over a backup computer tape could be committing the equivalent of "virtual shredding," [so call a cop, you scumsucking Bureaucrats!!! ] said Alvin F. Lindsay, a partner at Hogan & Hartson LLP and expert on technology and litigation.

James Wright, director of electronic discovery at Halliburton Co., said that large companies are likely to face higher costs from organizing their data to comply with the rules. In addition to e-mail, companies will need to know about things more difficult to track, like digital photos of work sites on employee cell phones and information on removable memory cards, he said.

Both federal and state courts have increasingly been requiring the production of relevant electronic documents during discovery, but the new rules codify the practice, legal experts said.

[Virginian]

Crapola! Well, it has been nice talking to you guys from work

[Willowdared]

Meh, not really all that new. IT departments have known for years that that stuff can and has been used in court cases.

[StanSwitek]

Im glad to leaving the profession in 3 weeks. I can only imagine the new rules my PD wil be putting in place.

[Ducky]

I'm the company geek, and it's a mom and pop joint anyhow.

Yay geeks!

[TXCharlie]

Meh, not really all that new. IT departments have known for years that that stuff can and has been used in court cases.

What's new is that the company & employee can get into trouble for trashing obsolete data if 3 years from now the Department of Labor comes a' knocking because someone filed a harassment complaint or something.

Before this, stuff like emails could be trashed at will... There was no real requirement to keep them for a set amount of time. And if subpoenaed, then the company could just say sorry, it's gone.

But now they MUST keep it till whatever the statute of limitations are on Federal lawsuits, because they can never predict when a lawsuit will happen, especially for a large company.

[Growler]

Every email I send will now be titled birthday cake recipe..

[TXCharlie]

Every email I send will now be titled birthday cake recipe..

And might I suggest wrapping critical documents in encrypted Zip 10.0 files (not just a password-protected zip). No rule against "forgetting" an encryption key, as far as I know - the Courts are always one step behind the technology

[Willowdared]

So basically - they follow the same rules as they have for hard copies?

Burn it to a disc.

[Roses]

Im glad to leaving the profession in 3 weeks. I can only imagine the new rules my PD wil be putting in place.

Retiring?