Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
In.an.enterprise-hosted.system.and.in.some.of.the.vendor-
provided.systems,.a.central.IT.administrator.can.set.policies.
that.automatically.conigure.the.clients.to.log.all.messaging.
sessions..This.can.be.very.important.when.it.comes.time.to.
access.that.information.due.to.litigation.or.some.other.infor-
mation.recovery.need.
There. are. also. various. settings. that. administrators. or.
users.can.conigure.that.allow.or.disallow.ile.sharing,.Web.
addresses.(URLs).to.be.included.in.messages,.voice.capabili-
ties,.contact.from.people.not.on.your.buddy.list,.and.so.forth.
Depending. on. the. coniguration. of. these. settings. and.
speciically. the. location. of. any. logs. or. copies. of. conversa-
tions,. important. electronic. information. may. be. stored. in.
many.different.locations..It.might.be.kept.locally.on.the.per-
son's.desktop.or.laptop.or.even.PDA.(personal.digital.assis-
tant,.such. as.a.Palm.device).or.cell/smart.phone..It.might.
be.located.on.a.central.enterprise.server,.or.possibly.on.a.
provider's.server.
If.the.coniguration.is.controlled.by.enterprise.administra-
tors. they. can. treat. it. the. same. as. database. or. e-mail. infor-
mation.as.noted.above..Depending.on.organizational.policy,.
regulations,.and.retention.law.they.may.or.may.not.store.logs.
and. archives. of. the. conversations.. Users. may. or. may. not.
have.the.capability.to.choose.to.store.logs.or.conversations.
on.their.personal.computers,.and.providers.such.as.AOL.or.
Microsoft.will.have.differing.policies.and.regulations.that.they.
follow.as.to.their.storage.and.retention.of.that.data.
All. this. is. to. recognize. that. for. the. responsible. attorney,.
manager,.or.owner.of.that.data,.there.are.a.myriad.of.possi-
bilities.to.be.aware.of..If.you.need.to.preserve.or.manage.this.
type.of.electronic.record,.you.will.need.to.know
•. Who.controls.the.storage.of.message.logs.and.content
•. Who.has.the.authority.to.access.that.data
•. What.process.is.required.to.gain.that.access
•. What.exactly.is.saved.and.for.how.long
