NEW YORK - Automatically Deleting State Employee Emails

I retired from my last workplace as an IT Technician and have a comment that is not addressed in this article.

Microsoft's Office 365 email system is an online system that keeps eMails on Microsoft computers, not your companies, and by default includes user archives (saved eMails).  This means there is an extra security consideration when you have company data on someone else's system.  Also, Microsoft can charge by amount of storage used depending on the agreement, the 50gb is just a maximum limit.

I'm no lawyer, but on the policy of allowing employees to determine which eMails are legal 'records' (not to be deleted) is opening the New York and the employee to lawsuits.

"Why is the Cuomo Administration Automatically Deleting State Employees’ Emails?" by Theodoric Meyer, ProPublica 8/11/2014

Excerpt

New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s administration — which the governor pledged would be the most transparent in state history — has quietly adopted policies that allow it to purge the emails of tens of thousands of state employees, cutting off a key avenue for understanding and investigating state government.

Last year, the state started deleting any emails more than 90 days old that users hadn't specifically saved — a much more aggressive stance than many other states.  The policy shift was first reported by the Albany Times Union.

A previously unpublished memo outlining the policy raises new questions about the state's stated rationale for its deletions policy.  What's more, the rules on which emails must be retained are bewilderingly complex – they fill 118 pages – leading to further concern that emails may not be saved at all.

"If you're aggressively destroying your email, it looks like you're trying to hide something," said Benjamin Wright, a Dallas lawyer who has advised companies and government agencies on records retention.

ProPublica obtained the memo through a public records request.

In the June 18, 2013, memo, Karen Geduldig, the general counsel of the state's Office of Information Technology Services, described New York's decision to automatically delete emails as a way to cut down on the state's "enormous amount of email data."

But the state implemented the policy as part of a move to Microsoft's Office 365 email system, which offers 50 gigabytes of space per email user — enough to store hundreds of thousands or even millions of emails for each state worker.  The state's version of Office 365 also offers unlimited email archiving.

The Office of Information and Technology Services declined to comment on the record.  An official in the office said even though the state can store large quantities of email, it can still be difficult to manage.

"Just because you have a big house doesn't mean you have to shove stuff in it," the official said.

Geduldig's memo also pointed out that some federal government agencies and corporations automatically purge employees' email.  "Such a system will aid the State in improving its email management," Geduldig wrote.

But many states take a different tack.

Florida, for instance, requires state employees to keep routine administrative correspondence for at least three years, and emails dealing with policy development for at least five years.  Connecticut requires employees to keep routine emails for at least two years.  Washington State requires workers to keep emails dealing with public business for two years, and emails to and from top officials for four years.  Those states also do not automatically delete email.

"It shouldn't be an automatic process," said Russell Wood, the records manager for the Washington State Archives.  "There should be some point of review in there."

Emails that qualify as "records" are supposed to be preserved under New York's policy.  But determining which emails qualify and which don't — a task left up to individual state employees — can be mind-numbingly complicated.