Starting Next Week Companies Must Track All Emails, Instant Messages, etc...

[Bronco_Beerslug]

Federal Law approved by the SC. The article is a little fuzzy on how this effects companies other than ones directly involved in litigation. Does it mean any company that may possibly be involved in litigation at any date, hard to tell.

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New rules compel firms to track e-mails
Fri Dec 1,

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.

The rules also require that lawyers provide information about where their clients' electronic data is stored and how accessible it is much earlier in a lawsuit than was previously the case.

There are hundreds of "e-discovery vendors" and these businesses raked in approximately $1.6 billion in 2006, Wright said. That figure could double in 2007, he added.

Another expense will likely stem from the additional time lawyers will have to spend reviewing electronic documents before turning them over to the other side. While the amount of data will be narrowed by electronic searches, some high-paid lawyers will still have to sift through casual e-mails about subjects like "office birthday parties in the pantry" in order to find information relevant to a particular case.

Martha Dawson, a partner at the Seattle-based law firm of Preston Gates & Ellis LLP who specializes in electronic discovery, said the burden of the new rules won't be that great.

Companies will not have to alter how they retain their electronic documents, she said, but will have to do an "inventory of their IT system" in order to know better where the documents are.

The new rules also provide better guidance on how electronic evidence is to be handled in federal litigation, including guidelines on how companies can seek exemptions from providing data that isn't "reasonably accessible," she said. This could actually reduce the burden of electronic discovery, she said.
http://tinyurl.com/w6k4q

[alkemical]

I'm glad i have a phone that runs my IM software & i can do personal email, it's how i get around the loophole @ work.

[baja]

The noose just keeps getting tighter and tighter.

Country is looking more and more like "V" every passing day.

[W*GS]

As the technology to monitor us gets more pervasive and intrusive, the technology that helps us maintain our privacy gets better and better. Every tech problem has a solution - it's the policies that are tougher to solve.

[yavoon]

sounds like sabarnes and oxley, which is pretty devastating legislation.

[epicSocialism4tw]

Originally Posted by Bronco_Beerslug

Federal Law approved by the SC. The article is a little fuzzy on how this effects companies other than ones directly involved in litigation. Does it mean any company that may possibly be involved in litigation at any date, hard to tell.

-------------------------------------------------------------
New rules compel firms to track e-mails
Fri Dec 1,

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.

The rules also require that lawyers provide information about where their clients' electronic data is stored and how accessible it is much earlier in a lawsuit than was previously the case.

There are hundreds of "e-discovery vendors" and these businesses raked in approximately $1.6 billion in 2006, Wright said. That figure could double in 2007, he added.

Another expense will likely stem from the additional time lawyers will have to spend reviewing electronic documents before turning them over to the other side. While the amount of data will be narrowed by electronic searches, some high-paid lawyers will still have to sift through casual e-mails about subjects like "office birthday parties in the pantry" in order to find information relevant to a particular case.

Martha Dawson, a partner at the Seattle-based law firm of Preston Gates & Ellis LLP who specializes in electronic discovery, said the burden of the new rules won't be that great.

Companies will not have to alter how they retain their electronic documents, she said, but will have to do an "inventory of their IT system" in order to know better where the documents are.

The new rules also provide better guidance on how electronic evidence is to be handled in federal litigation, including guidelines on how companies can seek exemptions from providing data that isn't "reasonably accessible," she said. This could actually reduce the burden of electronic discovery, she said.
http://tinyurl.com/w6k4q

This post needs to be reported. The whole "Texas Riviera" must know about this guy's penchant for secrecy and subversion. He must be fired immediately.

[loborugger]

So when guys like Beersnitch... err, Snitchslug rat folks out, there we will be an electronic trail, right?

[Spider]

did you know that they have a special chip in my licenses plate on my rig ?
thats right , everytime you go by a port of entry and see Cameras mounted on a pole over the right lane , they recieve data from the Chip in my license plate ...Tells them how long it took me to get from one port to the other , my IFTA Status , and if I had been a good boy or not ................
add to it I now have prepass , that transmits all my trucks data , from registration to the # of times i have been in violation of DOT rules .............

[baja]

Originally Posted by angryllama

This post needs to be reported. The whole "Texas Riviera" must know about this guy's penchant for secrecy and subversion. He must be fired immediately.

I thought you were a Christian? What's with all character assignation without proof no less. Thought Christians left the judgment to God....

This all seems hypocritical angryllama.

[Spider]

Originally Posted by baja fan

I thought you were a Christian? What's with all character assignation without proof no less. Thought Christians left the judgment to God....

This all seems hypocritical angryllama.

Thats why I dont put much stock in Christians , everyone said Errand was the exception , but as you can clearly see Errand was the norm ............

[Bronco_Beerslug]

Originally Posted by baja fan

I thought you were a Christian? What's with all character assignation without proof no less. Thought Christians left the judgment to God....

This all seems hypocritical angryllama.

He's nothing more than a liar and a hypocrite pretending to be a God fearing "Christian". These kind of people are just as bad as or worse than the "sinners" they chastise.

[epicSocialism4tw]

Originally Posted by Bronco_Beerslug

He's nothing more than a liar and a hypocrite pretending to be a God fearing "Christian". These kind of people are just as bad as or worse than the "sinners" they chastise.

No one is chastising you for "sins", they are chastising you for your role in getting a man fired from his job over some petty internet grudge.

Get used to it, because this will be the norm for you here. You did it to yourself.

[Bronco_Beerslug]

Originally Posted by angryllama

No one is chastising you for "sins", they are chastising you for your role in getting a man fired from his job over some petty internet grudge.

Get used to it, because this will be the norm for you here. You did it to yourself.

Read my sig. How does functioning in life as a liar and a hypocrite affect you're Sunday posing under the cross every week?