Agencies back plan to delete old e-mails

Agencies back plan to delete old e-mails

By Danielle Belopotosky, National Journal's Technology Daily
Government agencies generally support a proposal to let federal agencies delete mountains of saved e-mails that have been marked as having no long-term value, but some public advocacy groups and others have expressed concern.

In public comments submitted to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), seven agencies agreed with the basic premise of the rule, which would let agencies permanently delete e-mails that "have minimal or no documentary or evidential value."

"This rule change will be beneficial to the entire federal government by reducing the burden associated with managing short-term e-mail records," wrote Joda Holt of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

The proposal states that agencies should be permitted to delete e-mails under staggered retention periods, such as 90, 120 or 180 days. E-mails that have been requested under the Freedom of Information Act or that are involved in any litigation would be "frozen" until the matter is resolved, the rule states.

http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0105/010705tdpm1.htm