Better save than sorry

Given the prominent role of technology in business today, it's no surprise that electronic data often factors into lawsuits and compliance issues. Email seems to play a key role, as demonstrated by several recent events:

- In December, the US Securities and Exchange Commission fined five Wall Street titans a total of US$8.25 million for failing to save all employee email for three years.

- In June, the Massachusetts Secretary of State fined SG Cowen Securities $100,000 when the New York company's Boston office was unable to produce email that investigators requested.

- Incriminating emails - and employees' efforts to delete them - contributed to the Enron and WorldCom scandals.