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Boston City Government Discovers Email Retention

Posted by Soulskill on from the hey-those-stacks-of-emails-take-up-a-lot-of-space dept.

An anonymous reader writes "The Boston Globe, covering a battle to unseat the 16-year incumbent mayor, has found out that the city has no email retention policy. A city official who receives hundreds of emails a day was found to have only 18 emails in his mailbox. The city has enabled journaling on its Exchange server in response. The Globe also notes that they had to curtail requests for emails under the Open Records law because for each mailbox, 'City officials estimated they would charge $5,000 for six months worth of email.'"

2 of 184 comments (clear)

  1. Re:No retention? by laughingcoyote · · Score: 5, Informative

    Yes, I know where I am, but if you'd RTFA:

    According to the Massachusetts secretary of state, the state public records law requires municipal employees to save electronic correspondence for at least two years, even if the contents are of "no informational or evidential value." The only e-mails that can be deleted are those containing completely inconsequential information, such as spam or questions about lunch orders.

    --
    To fight the war on terror, stop being afraid.
  2. Why tagged "republicans"??? by Vinegar+Joe · · Score: 5, Informative

    Since 1930, every mayor of Boston has been a Democrat.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mayors_of_Boston

    --
    "The average reporter we talk to is 27 years old......They literally know nothing." - Ben Rhodes