Posted on 12/02/2006 10:22:28 AM PST by HighWheeler
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.
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," 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.
Disposables like Trak phones would provide more protection from prying eyes and subpoenas.
Will might need to buy an extra tape robot just to archive our 92M pieces of spam.
Somebody correct me if I'm wrong but I understood it was 40 years
I wonder if they can make that rule apply to places like Free Republic
Went into effect after the elections, I noticed.
"approved by the Supreme Court"
The Supreme Court doesn't approve rules.
This must have been asked for and paid for by lobbies for attorneys.
Another expense for businesses. Another step in the destruction of private enterprise.
Another step in the direction of Big Brother.
For this we elected those guys!!!?
As he put it to me, if we want to fire someone, all we have to do is look @ their computer records. Some where along the line everyone has violated a rule or two.
Like that will (can) ever happen.
http://www.uscourts.gov/rules/Reports/ST09-2005.pdf
Also, here is a link to a good summary:
http://www.prestongates.com/westlaw/HalterCLN.pdf
I believe the data must be stored for 10 years, but would have to check with my counsel to verify.
Non-story.
There is no expectation of privacy at work.
Work is not a democracy.
Employees are there to do a job, for which they are fairly compensated.
Why is that complicated?
Along similar lines I wonder how responsible parents are for their kid's e-mail, IM, music downloading, ect on a home internet connection.
I'm also interested in what other parents are doing about it.
It only applies if your company is "involved in federal litigation." If you aren't "involved in federal litigation" then you have nothing to worry about and this new rule has no effect on you or your company.
The main point of this is that it is an instance showing that FedGov and StateGov, a subsidiary of FedGov, control the persons they allow to be created under Amend 14. This is where state control is near total and where the march to the Left has been most successful in the world so far. We probably don't see the corporate institute clearly because it is 80% of the country: it's too big and too close to be seen except in the mind's eye. This is where PC speech is absolutely required, where EEO has any meaning at all, and where property rights rule.
At my job, work is about 50% IM.
Perhaps that is because an employee in New Jersey reports to a guy in Columbus who reports to a guy in the UK who reports to a guy in New York.
With the teams scattered so radically, we'd never get anything done without IM.
Does this apply to all businesses down to and including a sole proprietorship?
Only if your company is currently "involved in federal litigation." If your company is not currently "involved in federal litigation" then the new rules do not apply and you can continue to wipe your back-up tapes as usual (or not have back-ups at all).
IMs are just another way for people not to work.
Emails are bad enough....the ratio of screwing around via emails is easily around 50%.
-
Our workplace has warning banners on sign-in to (any) company system very clearly stating there is no expectation of privacy.
It's a bit like those signs warning "speed checked by radar". If you get a ticket, you can't really say nobody mentioned the rules going in...
The Supreme Court sure enough approves the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and the Federal Rules of Evidence, though approval is perfunctory; they just rubber stamp whatever Congress comes up with.
As to who asked for and paid for this, business probably had a hand in it as well as the attorneys. This seems intended to provide guidence as to how to shape a document retention & destruction policy without getting the corporation indicted for obstruction of justice, like Arthur Anderson did.
Management sees all this crap as a cost of doing business, I'm afraid. When you spend the shareholder's money, you tend not to get outraged about expenditures.
Anybody up to no good will simply not use email etc.
I think you have a point. It sounds like they require electronic files to be admitted in discovery process, just like paper files. However, companies are not required to keep every piece of paper or note or memo or report ever produced...?
In the '90's I worked for a large silicon valley company. There was an unwritten policy that everyone destroy their 'saved' and 'sent' emails once per month.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.