Ethically incorrect

Modern archiving systems already include automated deletion after a certain period of time.

Needless information retention is not just a problem for Microsoft, most local governments need to accidentally delete things before they appear in court too.

As an explanation to the benefits of setting retention periods and automatically deleting data if it hasn't accessed after a specified period of time, we were told the heart warming story of the child pornographer.

Because a state worker and child porno worshiper had properly implemented his Statewide archiving and retention policies, when the State DOJ tried to prosecute him for downloading illegal material at work, they came unstuck. True story.

So as State employees we were cheerfully informed that following our new archiving and retention policies had clearly demonstrated their worth.

Needless to say one or two of us had a few issues with this. Like if that was the best example they could give, then the reasons behind implementing such policies don't really seem to be in the public interest. And can we have some ethical reasons for deleting our inboxes please?

Seems they missed the boat, and could have banged on about reducing government waste. A much better tag line than "We saved the child pornographer from jail."

We pretty much left the "training" session wondering how many other ways the State government could use this to avoid getting sue for negligence or prosecuted for other illegal activities.