Digital law and order

Digital law and order

"In today's litigious world, it is rare that any company can escape a lawsuit in its business life. It is becoming the CIO's job to make sure, when the time comes, that IT is ready for the onslaught of directives to turn over all electronic documents in a legal case. And that's where the headaches start for any IT department that does not have a good e-mail retention and retrieval system.

A year ago, the US government made electronic documents an official part of the discovery process during a lawsuit. The rules for what is called 'e-discovery' that took effect 1 December 2006, make production of electronic documents as important as turning over hard copies of material in any legal case. Companies typically have 30 days to answer any e-discovery request and face thousands of dollars in fines if they fail to respond promptly."