Electronic records discovery is a major burden that has been placed squarely on all businesses. Through the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP), businesses of any size are required to provide all electronic records related to a suit or face draconian sanctions as opined by John Bace, research vice president at Gartner, Inc. (reference: http://www.channelprosmb.com/article/16270/E-Discovery-Is-for-SMBs-Too/). If a business cannot produce the requested documentation its only hope to avoid penalties is to show that it has good document retention policies in place and that they were followed in a routine, good-faith manner. Good luck to you trying to make that case as I imagine the standards being vague and interpreted differently across judges and jurisdictions.
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