Re: e-discovery with Google Apps?

[Adam Stone <adstone () LBL GOV>]

We need to define terms.
Google Message Discovery (an addon to Postini) is an archiving and
search service which preserves incoming and outgoing mail.  It is an
ediscovery product in the sense that it would allow a search of all
incoming and outgoing email, but it does not search the current
content of mailboxes.  Very few .edus I know of make widescale use of
archiving products b/c there are very few areas of most .edus that
have clearly legally defined retention requirements (ala financial
sector).

You can do ediscovery in Google Apps by using their APIs and making
use of IMAP to grab the contents of users mailboxes and then search
through them on a local workstation.  This is how most .edus I'm
familiar with execute ediscovery actions on their locally hosted email
today.  Whether your opposing counsel will agree that the IMAP suck
and search is sufficient isn't really a technical question, and it's
definitely not a defined situation - after all, you can only be
ordered to produce what you have.

I assume that Jesse is talking about the situations where you have to
turn over the subpoena or other legal instrument to Google and have
them execute it.  I cannot speak to what Google charges, or whether
they charge.  I think it's perfectly reasonable that Google would
charge you for this service - speaking from our local experience, such
efforts are time consuming and must be carefully performed.  It would
especially be reasonable for Google to charge you if you were electing
not to use the administrative access you have to execute the search
yourself (as the edu TOS requires you to do).
IANAL,

as


On Wed, Nov 11, 2009 at 8:45 AM, Adam Nave <nave () macalester edu> wrote:
> No, that is not true. Google Apps for Edu does not have any e-discovery
> services in the free product. If you want e-discovery, you must buy Google's
> Postini "message discovery" service, or a product from a third party
> provider. They do offer a steep discount for Edu customers.
>
> http://www.google.com/a/help/intl/en/edu/communication.html
> http://www.google.com/postini/index.html
> http://www.google.com/enterprise/marketplace/search?categoryId=4&orderBy=rating
>
> --Adam
>
> On Tue, Nov 10, 2009 at 2:18 PM, Jesse Thompson
> <jesse.thompson () doit wisc edu> wrote:
> > I heard a rumor that Google charges over $1000 for each e-discovery
> > request for Google Apps.  Is this true?
> >
> > We are planning to offer Google Docs and Sites to our users, so I would
> > like to know if there will be any unanticipated costs in this regard.
> >
> > Jesse
> >
> > --
> >  Jesse Thompson
> >  Division of Information Technology, University of Wisconsin-Madison
> >  Email/IM: jesse.thompson () doit wisc edu
>
>
>
> --
> Adam Nave, CISSP
> Linux/Unix Systems Administrator
> Macalester College



-- 
-------.sig
Have you read the Galvin Report lately?
http://www.lbl.gov/LBL-PID/Galvin-Report/GalvinReport10.html#RTFToC80
-------------------------------------------------------------
Adam Stone
Policy, Assurance, and Risk Management, Office of the CIO
Berkeley Lab, University of California
510.486.4650(o) 510.593.7507(c) http://www.lbl.gov/CIO/Policy/