On Jul 21, 2009, at 12:00 AM, RECMGMT-L automatic digest system wrote:
> From: pakurilecz <[log in to unmask]>
> Date: July 20, 2009 11:21:48 PM EDT
> Subject: RAINdrop Court Trashes Corporation’s Record Retention-
> Destruction Policy
>
> http://shrinkster.com/17u6
SNIP:
> ......on the topic of this lawsuit because you told your employees
> to destroy
> records? Explain that to me. What is the urgency to destroy records in
> this digital age? Maybe when records were paper an enterprise needed
> to
> rid itself of records that occupy a lot of real estate and are hard to
> search. But e-mail archives do not take up much physical
> space, ..........
If ARMA was more than just a trade show, this would be a good place to
weigh in and issue an opinion, back it up with legal advice and set a
tone.
Since that will never happen, I have created a possible new
organization and the the opinion it would render would be:
____
The Professional Association of Records Managers (PARM) issued the
following statement: "The scheduled retention period for email is set
at 90 days online; at which time the emails shall migrate into offline
storage for a period of 12 months. After a 12 month retention period,
the offline storage files shall then be erased or destructed as
defined within the individual organization's policy for destruction of
records out of schedule. The rationale for this policy is based on the
solid records management platform that any email that is more than
just a convenience notification, could be saved as a records file and
stored within the scheduled records collection, either as a paper
document or a digital record, as designed by the records management
program. Maintaining ever growing collections of non-record content
emails is detrimental to corporate operations and profitability.
Since the role of the corporation is first and foremost to render
growth and profit to shareholders, it is necessary to eliminate
wasteful expenditures and email is overwhelmingly worthless electronic
files, therefore the early destruction of the vast majority of the
files is warranted. Precedents of "Nunc Pro Tunc" apply in this
guideline. Developed nations being forced to store records long term
at great expense makes the corporations headquartered in that country
less efficient and thus at risk of competition from less developed
nations with no records management guidelines. The overall good of the
whole nation would be impaired for the benefit of a possible few.
PARM renders a well thought out opinion that a reasonable period shall
suffice and the courts and plaintiffs will recognize this necessity
and thus move for litigation at an accelerated rate if they feel their
rights have been violated.
PARM further requests that the failure to notify the court of a
legitimate need for extended retention of records shall eliminate the
requirement. Should a party seek an extended retention and the court
rule that no plaintiff right was violated then the plaintiff shall be
liable for all costs associated with any extended retention costs
thereby eliminating nuisance suits as a form of economic harassment to
sabotage the economic strength of the corporation.
Precedent: The United States Government in its handling of the GM and
Chrysler cases where it established the need for the survival of the
corporation as a legitimate need of society and therefore able to set
aside debts, legal liability and other vested rights for the purpose
of assuring the survival of the corporation.
___
This is simple, elegant protocol that could be used as a basis for
corporate lawyers to establish a shortened retention period for
records that are largely suspect in the first place. This would turn
the tide as email is now being accorded a status well beyond its
purpose. Courts attempt to establish a gravitas that is not warranted
by actual reality of content. Email has become the virtual Twitter of
the organization and therefore should be accorded that type of
retention schedule until proven otherwise by a review of all email
components. Email is largely SPAM, Viruses, BOTS, Advertising, Jokes,
Anti-Smithian humor, other humor, YOUTUBE Videos, political rants,
invitations to webinars, Ipodinars, Blackberrian gatherings and
assorted calls for lunch appointments, baby showers, and so on with a
less than .001 records content. A metal detector on a beach in a third
world country could find more value per grain of sand than actual
email. The ability of IBM and Dell and Microsoft and Google to create
some new digital communication plague shall not in and of itself
create a new category of records content.
This email itself and its lack of viable content could be entered into
evidence as an example. Who is with me, this Listserve shall
henceforth have an alter ego entitled PARM and can therefore render
opinions under that superhero guise. I sometimes feel as a records
manager I am channeling Andy Rooney. Well if I were a records manager
that is......
CEO's and CFO's and Board of Directors would immediately seize this
opinion of PARM and reference it to justify some rational behavior
other than save everything because it is so easy to do in electronic
format. PARM would immediately be quoted across the land. My limited
RM knowledge can at least grasp the folly of the "Save everything
because it is itty biddy" as described in the Raindrop.
Now for some reason I am hungry for Italian food so I am off to lunch
in search of some Chicken __________, what is the word?
As always I leave it to Alan Andolsen to determine whether some
salient point was made, whether the Latin was correctly cited or
whether this was the most twittiful excuse for a post this Listserv
has ever seen. As for myself, I fall back on the defense of Veritas
Quoad Scio.
Hugh Smith
FIRELOCK Fireproof Modular Vaults
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