ere's another tough question:
If your organization is sued, are you prepared to provide records of all communications and transactions conducted by certain individuals with the company during certain dates relating to a certain set of issues?
Remember, it's the law that any of your electronic records can be requested and must be provided by a court order under the newly updated Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.
What are the FRCP standards?
The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure govern the production of evidence in Federal cases. The FRCP is designed for the civil federal court system, with input from the US Supreme Court, and approval by the US Congress. Seventeen states have adopted the new rules for electronic stored information (ESI) discovery and eighteen additional states are considering adopting the new rules for state civil litigation. Companies that find themselves subjected to lawsuits within the federal and state courts system need to be prepared to meet the requirements as written and supply information immediately as it pertains to individual cases.
Amended Rule 26:
As of December 2006, all institutions must meet the eDiscovery requirements as stated in the FRCP. This amended rule was created to assist specifically at helping courts and litigators navigate the new world of ESI. The eDiscovery requirements recognize all electronic communication, especially email and IMs as now legal to request at the court's convenience. Organizations now have a clear responsibility to produce ESI or face the penalty of the law.
Penalties of not following FRCP eDiscovery Requirements:
As outlined in Section V, Rule 37 "Failure to Make or Cooperate in Discovery; Sanctions," penalties include paying for the expenses of the opposing party, contempt of court, imposing of sanctions against your case, heavy fines, or even an automatic guilty verdict.
How Your Organization can comply with FRCP Standards:
Organizations need to know exactly where data is stored, what data storage technology is used to backup and archive records, how the retention schedule applies, how and when they are recycled, how long it will take to produce them, and in what formats they can be produced.
The Law Requires Email Archiving | ITworld