British Government Orders E-Mail Purge

[Tinoire]

British Government Orders E-Mail Purge
From correspondents in London
18dec04

MILLIONS of e-mails to British government staff will be automatically wiped out on Monday, 11 days before freedom of information laws come into force, a newspaper reported Saturday.

The Cabinet Office, which supports Prime Minister Tony Blair and co-ordinates government policy, has ruled that e-mails more than three months old must be deleted from December 20, according to The Times.

(snip)

Although the deleted e-mails will be stored on back-up systems, these have been declared off limits to freedom of information requests because of the cost of accessing them, it added. The Conservative opposition party said Blair's Labour government was deliberately trying to destroy embarrassing information.

(snip)

The Cabinet Office insisted that the exercise was not related to the Freedom of Information Act but was "good records management practice," to stop files blocking the system.

http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,11725496%255E1702,00.html