Sorry, Peter, 

Can't disagree with you more here regarding your assertion that IM == phone
call. I am personally aware of at least a dozen broker-dealers that use IM
to conduct trades - and if that ain't substantive I don't know what is. That
is the only record of the trade order, and with the executed trade
confirmation forms the definitive record of the deal. 

I also remember conversations ten years ago that argued for treating all
emails like phone calls - in fact someone made that assertion to me as
recently as this year. Anyone want to defend that position today? 

As others have pointed out, there are other ways of capturing the
information transmitted - but then we could do the same thing with emails as
well, except that it would take longer to do so and increase the risk that
something important was lost.  

I partially agree with Peter's final point regarding determining how/why IM
is being used and if it is the most applicable - but we've been fighting for
years to argue that the business needs determine the systems and not vice
versa. If the business, or in this case the school district, has found that
IM meets their needs, so be it. 

As we are wont to say, "It's the content, not the format, that determines
whether it's a record." So too with instant messaging, and blog posts, and
wiki articles, and whatever we're using to exchange information and drive
business conversations with ten years from now. And even then someone will
assert that "brain pulse transmissions are like phone calls." Don't fall
into that trap. 

Regards, 

Jesse Wilkins
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