I have spent many days on panels discussing the "in's and out's" of
email, fielded data and metadata and the evidentiary consequences of how
to preserve, acquire, produce and introduce email as evidence. So this
post will be short and higher level.
In essence, for every email, there are at least three evidentiary
documents: a) The email on the sender's system with content, fielded
data and metadata that stays in that system, b) the email that transited
the network (whether it be intranet, extranet or internet) and c) the
email as it was received by the recipient. A party will have either b)
embedded in a) or b) embedded in c) but never both. Email threads
compound this problem exponentially, but we'll save that for another
day.
Changing the situs of the email in the sender's or recipient's system
will change fielded data and metadata about those versions of the email
(a or c.) It should not change the content, fielded data and meta data
of the email that transited the net (b).
To be evidence, lawyers and courts consider both the content and context
of the document. In civil litigation, only the content and certain
contextual information will be "material." Part of the problem is that
materiality is defined by the issues in the matter at hand. So you have
to use some foresight as to all of the potential legal threats to which
a particular class of documents may be used (into which this email will
be archived) to determine material fielded and metadata.
Archiving the b) email with as many of the material attributes of the a)
or c) email is the key. Doing so where any immaterial changes to
fielded data or metadata can be systemically explained will lead to a
defensible archive. In some cases, the changes may be necessary - such
as introducing hash value metadata or some other electronic signature to
insure authenticity and veracity may be a procedure instituted by a
company to protect and defend its content as a matter of policy.
Last word - too many companies still see and treat email as a class of
documents based on the IT perspective, budgets and business needs.
Whoever first said content is king in this thread is right on the mark
for the first transition. My point is that context is the next big
thing for everyone to learn about.
William Kellermann, Esq.
Director, Corporate Legal Systems
CT Summation
[log in to unmask]
www.ctsummation.com
CT Summation
425 Market Street, 7th Floor
San Francisco, CA 94105
Phone: 415-442-0404
Fax: 415-442-0403
Technical Support: 800-786-2778
-----Original Message-----
From: Records Management Program [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of Jay Maechtlen
Sent: Friday, February 10, 2006 3:04 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [RM] E-mail management and retention
hmm.
I would expect that the original metadata would remain, with information
of the move added.
I guess that's naive of me.
What metadata is actually used from the email, and what changes result
from moving it?
Jay Maechtlen
Ameriquest Data Service
This is just a test... if this was an actual sig, you would have been
mildly amused...
Records Management Program <[log in to unmask]> wrote on 02/10/2006
12:57:37 PM:
> Mr. Maechtlen:
>
> I suggest you reread what was written. I did state that it changes,
> not that it is lost.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Records Management Program [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On
> Behalf Of Jay Maechtlen
> Sent: Friday, February 10, 2006 12:44 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: E-mail management and retention
>
>
> Records Management Program <[log in to unmask]> wrote on
> 02/10/2006
> 11:22:56 AM:
>
> >
> > Another important factor is that each time an email is transferred
> > from one location to another, the metadata changes. That is, if I
> > move an email from the email server to a different folder, the
> > metadata changes.
> >
>
> ???
> I don't think so ?!
> Contained in the email header is all kinds of good stuff, such as
> dates,
> times, names, and servers that the message was sent from, recieved by,
> (and often) relayed through.
>
> Do you somehow throw all that info away when you move or archive the
> message?
> (well, if you save it as a document, you probably do)
>
> Better go back and look at how you handle those messages, to preserve
the
> pertinant header info!
>
> Regards
> Jay
>
> Jay Maechtlen
> Ameriquest Data Service
> This is just a test... if this was an actual sig, you would have been
> mildly amused...
>
>
>
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