Boston Email-Gate Investigation Expands; Questions Continue on Why Mayor Menino’s Office Didn’t Use Email Archiving
Email Archiving Expert, Metalogix, Outlines Best Practices for Email Archiving and Information Transparency
WALTHAM, Mass., September 16, 2009 – In the wake of increasing questions around the daily “double deletion” of email records by Boston Mayor Menino’s cabinet chief of policy and planning, Metalogix, a leading provider of email archiving, has been consulted to suggest the best practices that City Hall should have followed to comply with the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).
“The email-gate investigation questions the daily deletion of email records in Mayor Menino’s City Hall and brings the concept of information ‘transparency’ into fresh focus,” said Chris Risley, CEO of Metalogix. “Public records laws have been in place for years mandating that municipalities retain employee email for at least two years, even if the content is of ‘no informational or evidential value.’ In the interest of public access to information, state and local public agencies should implement automatic email archiving to enforce state and local policies.”
In the case of Boston City Hall, a close advisor to Mayor Menino has been reported to have deleted items from his inbox, sent box and the deleted/trash folder on a daily basis prior to traditional end-of-day tape backup. Now the Massachusetts Secretary of State has forced the hiring of an independent expert to retrieve City Hall emails that were “improperly deleted.” If a Microsoft Exchange archiving solution had been implemented, these email records, including email, calendar items and records of email deletions, would have been captured immediately as they happened, regardless of what was stored on backup tapes at the end of the day.
Metalogix has become an expert source on the Mayor Menino email story. A Metalogix expert was interviewed for a WCVB Boston Channel 5 story titled, “Hunt Continues For Missing E-Mails At City Hall.” The company points out that the implementation of an email archiving solution could solve issues such as those in the Mayor Menino example. Email archiving, which has been around for more than 10 years, is an inexpensive way to assure that organizations remain in compliance with public records policy, even if the email users don’t operate within the guidelines.
Email Archiving Best Practices
Following are key best practices Metalogix says should be followed by any public agency to assure compliance with the FOIA:
- Once there is a written policy you must enforce it with an automated solution to eliminate the “human” component of policy enforcement.
- Disaster Recovery solutions, such as tape backup, should not be used as email archives. They only capture information from the point of backup, which does not include deleted items. They are not equipped to capture activity as it happens.
- A complete records retention policy should assure that all email and related email items (including email content, attachments, calendar items and tasks) is retained. Even lunch appointments may be very important to a future eDiscovery request.
- Disposition processes should be consistent and documented under the direction of legal counsel.
For more information on email archiving, best practices for email retention and to learn more about how the Metalogix Professional Archive Manager for Exchange works to automate email records policies, please visit: http://www.metalogix.com/products/Archive-Manager-Exchange-Edition/.
About Metalogix Software
Metalogix Software delivers award-winning content migration and archiving software that enables organizations to migrate, manage, and archive enterprise content to ensure availability, regulatory compliance, efficiency, and cost effectiveness. It supports its more than 2,000 customers worldwide from seven office locations; Boston and Dallas (US), Vancouver and Halifax (Canada) London (UK), Bratislava (Slovakia), and Schaffhausen (Switzerland). Originally founded in 2001, Metalogix of Canada merged with the archiving business of H & S Software in 2008. Profitable and privately held, Metalogix’s investors include Insight Venture Partners and Bessemer Venture Partners.
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Metalogix and all other Metalogix Inc. product or service names are trademarks of Metalogix Inc. in the USA and other countries. Other brand and product names are trademarks of their respective companies. Copyright 2009 Metalogix Inc. All rights reserved.
For further information, please contact:
David Winterhalter
877.450.8667
david.winterhalter@metalogix.com
