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Proposed Federal Rules On E-Document Destruction
runner345 writes "The Federal Advisory Committee on Civil Procedure is evaluating a series of 'e-discovery' rules that will change the way litigation handles electronically stored information for the federal courts. Included in this is proposed Fed. R. Civ. P. 37 which would exempt parties from sanctions for electronic evidence destroyed in a 'routine operation of the party's electronic information system.' Microsoft and other technology heavy-hitters have strongly backed this safe harbor because it judicially validates electronic document retention policies (perhaps the most effective Orwellian misnomer for outright document destruction). If you thought it was hard to get incriminating documents from the tech industry now, think about what this rule will do to a plaintiff's chances. You can get the proposed rule here (when their site works) and read what Microsoft and Intel have to say about it here. You can also read my law school thesis on the topic (still only in draft)."
Broadly, my company "EvilCorp" has a document retention policy, that simply states
"Don't retain anything incriminating".
I'm glad to see, government is catching up, with trends set by industry leaders like myself !!
God Bless America.
God Bless Corporate Malfesence.
Death to document retaining, Commie Linux Users!
Also, it's worth noting.
We've always been at war, with East Asia !
[Seriously folks]
Am I the only one who thinks that government should be requiring companies to move the *other* way?
Ie, retain, *everything*... absolutely *everything*, why should email/*doc* be an acceptable domain, where, one can simply erase data under dubious circumstances ?
Because corporation (x) wants it that way ?
[Aside]
Corporations are too powerful now.
Increasingly, law is coming to reflect the interests of Corporations, instead of the interests of countries citizens.
It's not so absurd to suggest, that.. eventually, the little guy will revolt.
Think the French revolution, think the American revolution...
Eventually, when the little guy gets done taking enough crap from those on top... the little guy gives the other the boot.
In this light, Bill Gates is the King of France.
"Let them eat Patent-Cake".. etc.
The submitter makes it sound like it's horrible for the plaintiff, but would we really want to live in a world where we have to keep every single file forever? I think not.
Do we really want to live in a world where there is no such thing as electronic evidence, since anyone can just say, "oops, it got deleted in the routine operations of my business... last night." I think not. See Burst v. Microsoft.
All that currently happens is that companies avoid putting anything potentially incriminating in writing. "Call me about this," the email says. So companies spend huge amounts of money ensuring "compliance" with retention laws, plus they are unable to get all the efficiency out of communications technologies that are possible because they still end up having the important conversations in person, and we still can't prove anything in court. What's next? Require companies to record and save all phone calls? The ultimate step will be when we don't allow people to have off-record conversations:
CEO: "What do you think, Phil?"
CFO: "I don't think the [FLUUUUUUUSSSSSHHHHH] shareholders will suspect a [ZIIIIP!] thing."
Retention requirements are a huge ball-and-chain for companies without fully addressing the problem they are intended to solve.
Actually, I was trying to be Insightful, not Funny.