Digital Back-up Regulations in Canada

I always find it interesting to learn about the finer points of document management abroad - especially in the case of legal restrictions and federal regulations. I mentioned earlier in the week that Google has run into some trouble with Europe's more stringent data-protection regulations, and Canada is another country with progressive new legal obligations.

Today I came across an article on Mondaq.com that discusses the evolution of laws dictating e-documents in Canada. Furthermore, this article focuses specifically on the legal field. According to the author:

"It is undeniable that the proliferation of electronically stored information ("ESI") in today's business environment makes your 3-hole punch a less utilized tool than it was 10 years ago. And it is incumbent on all counsel to be aware of the differences associated with the preservation and production of ESI vs. paper records. But, like many issues in the law, once you decode the jargon, you will find that the basic legal principles are not that different. At their core, the preservation obligations for ESI mirror the conventional obligations for paper records. You just need to be attuned to the characteristics of ESI that demand earlier and more detailed attention than the dusty boxes of documents sitting in your client's warehouse."

Storage Service Providers on the Rise

Network World has a brief, interesting article on the growth of electronic data storage centers. In addition to our traditional document storage programs, we've moved forward to include and even focus specifically on digital back-up, storage and protection.

Here is a segment of the article:

As consumers and business organizations continue to generate vast amounts of data and seek optimum methods to store and protect them, the growth of storage capacities delivered through storage-as-a-service offerings will outpace traditional storage architectures," said Brad Nisbet, program manager for IDC’s storage and data management services.

The entire piece can be found here.

Google Hindered by Tighter Data Protection in Europe

I've mentioned a few times in this blog that digital data protection regulations tend to be stricter in Europe. Many industries in the UK and elsewhere in the West are already requiring businesses to incorporate a comprehensive data management strategy into their yearly plans - often calling for extensive archival of digital communications and other such practices. Today I came across an article about Google's somewhat recent expansion into the EU, and some of the troubles they have faced in relation to stringent data protection laws.

You can follow the link for the entire article, but here's an interesting segment to give you a taste of the issue's they have run into.

"Data protection advisers to the European Commission in Brussels, Belgium, are questioning Google over how long the company retains user logs -- the files containing an individuals queries typed into Google search fields. A panel of regulators wants Google, as well as Yahoo and Microsoft, to purge the records after six months.

Google says it needs the data for nine months to hone its search engine to reflect the constant changes in contextual meaning caused by news and events. Before October, Google retained the records for 18 months in the European Union. Yahoo keeps its records for 13 months and MSN, Microsoft's search service, for 18 months. So far, European officials are trying to persuade Google and the others to comply, but they have not ruled out asking the commission to intervene."