On Jul 24, 2014, at 12:01 AM, RECMGMT-L automatic digest system <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> From: Bruce White <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: RAINDrop - IRS scandal teaches agencies to archive
> Date: July 23, 2014 at 10:32:42 AM EDT
> 
> 
> In today's Federal News Radio...
> 
> <snip>Agencies should be archiving all business communication to avoid the
> mayhem similar to what's going on at IRS. While the agency shifts blame
> from e-mail to instant messenger, Nancy Flynn, founder of ePolicy, said
> agencies need to take a look at managing the many communication options.
> 
> "One mistake the IRS made that has come out throughout this scandal, is the
> fact that they were relying on backup tape. Backup tape is not intended for
> the long term preservation of records. You want to archive those records,"
> Flynn said.<snip>

I tried to come up with something really stupid to say to compare with this statement but it is not possible.

>> "One mistake the IRS made that has come out throughout this scandal, is the
>> fact that they were relying on backup tape. Backup tape is not intended for
>> the long term preservation of records. You want to archive those records,"
>> Flynn said.<snip>

How utterly ridiculous!  The time period over which this occurred was very short.  The computer media would not be taxed in holding its message in just a few short years.  Back up tape stored properly can provide accurate data for 10 to 15 years.  This all occurred in just a few years time.

How about comparing the hard drives and saying they will not be staple after a few years……….?  I have computers here in my office I keep as simple archival storage and they range from 15 years to to 5 years to less than one year old.  And when I fire them up, they are just as solid as when I used them every day.

I have computer media and flash drives I keep with information on them and I have yet to open one and find that it just failed due to aging.

Computer tape (LTO, DLT and other tapes) can provide reliable back up for 5, 10 and 15 years.  So to say that Lois backed up her computer and in just a few years the data just crashed is ridiculous.  To think that in a professional setting like the IRS that their systems were so flawed and poorly maintained that these drives could crash and they had no methodology to back them up defies all logic.

The only way that you can make this information disappear is to have very well trained and dedicated staff willing to go to any lengths to make this information disappear.  To make it disappear not only on her computer, her back up technology, the computers of the people she communicated with is beyond belief.

Computer tape is not a short-lived back up medium.  Hard drives are not short term.  To have so many drives all crash simultaneously is also beyond belief.  Where are the interviews with the knowledgeable records managers and IT Managers who explain how ridiculous this is?

And if it is possible, where is the call for banning this subcontractor from future bidding?  Where is the call for changing technology to something more reliable?  Where is the reference to the brand of hardware and tape and hard drive they were using so this company can be driven from  future work?

It is the sheer boldness of these scandals and their simplistic responses.  “They are gone and there is nothing we can do.”  Bring us the head of the Microsoft, HP, IBM or other contractor who managed this equipment!  Ban them forever from future work.  But we all know there is nothing wrong with the tape and the drives.

Hugh Smith
[log in to unmask]
(610)  756-4440    Fax (610)  756-4134


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