NSW Records Office urges block of Microsoft's email 'self destruct'
NSW Records Office urges block of Microsoft's email 'self destruct'
The Director of the State Records Authority of New South Wales has issued a directive to the State's public sector records managers recommending that public offices implementing Microsoft Office 2003 should block the use of the controversial 'information rights management' functionality that can be applied to Outlook messages and Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents.
David Roberts said in the mailout that State Records and the Department of Commerce's Office of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) are "working together to develop guidance for public offices on the appropriate use of information rights management in Microsoft Office 2003 products."
The information rights management function allows the creator of an email message to limit the recipients' ability to forward, copy or print the message, and can even direct the message to 'self destruct,' a la Mission Impossible, after an allotted period of time. Similar attributes can be applied to documents by their authors.
"This functionality has significant implications for recordkeeping and, more broadly, for the way that organisations conduct their business in the electronic environment," said Roberts.
Roberts also warned that inappropriate use of this functionality, either within a public office or by external parties communicating with it, may prevent a public office from capturing and keeping electronic records needed for ongoing business, accountability or other reasons, and may also result in breaches of the State Records Act 1998 and of obligations to produce documentation to competent external authorities.
"Pending the availability of the guidance noted above [from ICT office], State Records recommends that public offices implementing Microsoft Office 2003 should block the use of information rights management functionality to their employees."
Cassie Findlay, Senior Project Officer for government recordkeeping, said that until the implications of the new technology on record keeping had been fully investigated, it was thought prudent to advise public sector offices not to use the functionality.
"We are not sure at the moment whether the functionality will prevent public officials from capturing electronic records in record keeping systems such as TRIM, or indeed, whether there will be problems with the use or copying or printing of these documents once they are captured, so we are working with the ICT so that we can come up with further guidance in the near future."
Related Article: