Define Electronic Data
When the FRCP amendments refer to electronic data, it is not just about email. While email may be the most frequent form of electronic communications, the definition encompasses blogs, instant messaging, online chats, webcams, and broadband voice services, just to name a few. "The definitions are sufficiently broad that customers that are unprepared need to pay attention to what their data retention policies are and what their data deletion policies are," warns Raghavan.
Spurzem says, "The FRCP amendments are careful to specify 'electronically stored information'. So IM for instance applies the same as email. But the ease at which certain data can be found and searched is also one of the factors to consider. Many companies let employees use public IM services (AOL, Yahoo, MSN) and the trend is for organizations to bring IM in-house and archive the IM records. Spurzem also notes that digital telephone is another form of electronic information that will also become part of the messaging archive.