Information Management Journal articles from November 2008

Information Management Journal archives from November 2008

After the bailout: RIM's critical role.(IN FOCUS: A Message from the Editors)
November 1, 2008... On October 3, President Bush signed into law a massive bailout/rescue plan passed by the U.S. Congress. The bill allows the government to eventually buy up to $700 billion in assets tied to shaky mortgages. The hope is that clearing banks'...

Border agents may seize laptops.(UP FRONT: News, Trends & Analysis)(Department of Homeland Security)
November 1, 2008... According to newly disclosed Department of Homeland Security (DHS) policies, federal agencies can confiscate a traveler's electronic devices as well as paper documents at the border--without any suspicion of wrongdoing. Agents can take the...

Next president to inherit e-mail problem.(UP FRONT: News, Trends & Analysis)
November 1, 2008... The Associated Press (AP) obtained an internal White House document revealing that the White House is missing potentially 225 days worth of e-mails, and recovery of the records will not likely be completed by the end of President George W....

Texas AG makes firms pay for breaches.(UP FRONT: News, Trends & Analysis)(Attorneys general)(Brief article)
November 1, 2008... After identity theft scandals, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott is requiring two Texas-based employers to undergo mandatory employee training annually for the next five years. As part of the agreement, employees of Radio Shack and Select...

La. schools get $2.4 million to restore records.(UP FRONT)(Los Angeles)(Brief article)
November 1, 2008... When Hurricane Katrina deluged the Jefferson Parish school system's administration building in Harvey, Louisiana, it also damaged some 14 million documents, including personnel files, student records, medical information, and minutes. ...

Employees need help managing e-mail.(UP FRONT)
November 1, 2008... Today, it's taking longer for most employees to manage their e-mail--and they aren't doing such a good job of it. For example, a recent survey found that employees are failing to properly archive e-mails because they are too busy or don't know...

Planned database sale worries Iowans.(UP FRONT)
November 1, 2008... The information contained in a public records website--including the Social Security numbers of thousands of Iowans--may soon be sold to a real estate database company. Iowans and privacy experts fear the move may result in identity theft. ...

Report: states should prioritize e-records.(UP FRONT)(Report)(Brief article)
November 1, 2008... A recent National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) that states should take an enterprise-wide to preserving electronic records. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The report says states continue to struggle to meet the...

Court upholds SOX challenge.(UP FRONT)(Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002)(Beckstead and Watts and Free Enterprise Fund files suit against Public Company Accounting Oversight Board)
November 1, 2008... A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit has upheld a challenge to the validity of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX), noting that the act and the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB)...

11 nations develop global standards.(UP FRONT)(Brief article)
November 1, 2008... A multinational archival consortium led by Australia and New Zealand has developed a global standard set for recordkeeping software. The National Archives of Australia (NAA) collaborated with national archive organizations in 11 countries...

The SEC's IDEA: replace EDGAR.(UP FRONT)(Securities and Exchange Commission)(eXtensible Business Reporting Language)(Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis, and Retrieval system )
November 1, 2008... The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has announced plans to require that all publicly traded U.S. companies and mutual funds prepare their financial filings using a new interactive system that allows the information to be viewed and...

Report: Gonzales mishandled sensitive data.(UP FRONT)(U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales )
November 1, 2008... Inspector General (IG) Glenn Fine said former U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales mishandled 18 documents that were classified as sensitive compartmentalized information (SCI), a security category for documents considered more highly...

New records standards for New Zealand.(UP FRONT)
November 1, 2008... Archives New Zealand Minister Judith Tizard has introduced two new recordkeeping standards for local and federal government agencies: the Create and Maintain Recordkeeping Standard and the Electronic Recordkeeping Metadata Standard. ...

Poll: people don't trust EHRs.(UP FRONT)(electronic health records )(Survey)(Brief article)
November 1, 2008... According to a recent Harris Poll, millions of Americans believe they or a relative have had personal medical records either lost or stolen, and they don't trust that electronic health" records (EHRs) are safe. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] ...

U.K. lauches $6 million archiving system.(UP FRONT)
November 1, 2008... The U.K. National Archives said future generations will be able to read government documents electronically thanks to a new 3.5 million [pounds sterling] ($6.3 million U.S.) archiving system for public digital records. The automated...

Officials crack largest ID theft ring ever.(UP FRONT)(Brief article)
November 1, 2008... Federal prosecutors have cracked the largest hacking and identity theft ring ever. Officials charged 11 people with stealing more than 41 million credit and debit card numbers from national retailers including T.J. Maxx, Barnes & Noble, and...

Poll: e-discovery worries execs.(UP FRONT)(Survey)
November 1, 2008... Almost two out of five executives fret about electronic discovery issues more than 18 months after amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure governing e-discovery took effect, according to a recent Deloitte Financial Advisory Services...

Pennsylvania launches govt. e-library.(UP FRONT)(Brief article)
November 1, 2008... Pennsylvania has launched a website that features a database of government contracts that is open to the public. State Treasurer Robin L. Wiessmann said Pennsylvania's new right-to-know law required creation of the database, known as the...

Record data breaches in 2008.(UP FRONT)(Identity Theft Resource Center )
November 1, 2008... The total number of data breaches in 2008 will surpass those reported in 2007, according to a report from the Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC). [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Last year, 446 breaches were reported. As of August 2008, the...

IBM invests $300 million in disaster recovery.(UP FRONT)(International Business Machines Corp)(Brief article)
November 1, 2008... IBM announced it will spend $300 million to build 13 "cloud-computing" data centers where businesses can store information for quick retrieval in case their computer systems are destroyed in a disaster. The computing giant's plans include...

Kentucky drowning in records.(UP FRONT)(Brief article)
November 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] State archives and courthouses around Kentucky have been deluged by court records after the state's top court administrator ordered them to retain all records forever. The edict came in April 2007, in response to...

Cheney sued over records.(UP FRONT)(Dick Cheney)(National Archives and Records Administration)
November 1, 2008... A coalition of a watchdog group, historians, and archivists has filed a lawsuit in federal court to ensure that records created by Office of the Vice President will be handed over to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) at...

Archivists assist Israel, Palestine.(UPFRONT)
November 1, 2008... U.S. and Canadian archivists have hunched a project to help Israel and the Palestinians preserve their archives. Allen Weinstein, the archivist of the United States, and his Canadian counterpart, Ian Wilson, met with officials of the Israel...

Study: U.S. ranks third in e-gov.(UPFRONT)(Brief article)
November 1, 2008... The United States ranks third, behind South Korea and Taiwan, in a comparison of national government websites and electronic government initiatives, according to a new study of 1,667 national government sites from 198 nations. The U.S....

Records & information management in the post-bailout world: the backlash from the U.S. financial market crisis is sure to include a rush to legislation, regulation, and litigation that will present a host of new compliance and discovery challenges that organizations should begin preparing for today.(ON THE EDGE: The Use & Misuse of Information)
November 1, 2008... Although records and information management (RIM) professionals may have only a passing acquaintance with the Basel II Framework, it undoubtedly has had a serious effect on their personal lives recently because of its relationship to the...

How to create a security culture in your organization: a recent study reveals the importance of assessment, incident response procedures, and social engineering testing in improving security awareness programs.
November 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Information security has become one of the most important and challenging issues facing today's organizations. With pervasive use of technology and widespread connectedness to the global environment, organizations...

The ingredients of a good leader: from analyzing the tasks at hand to balancing individual and team efforts, a leader must always be a motivator.
November 1, 2008... The role of leadership is a crucial component in the success of any records management program. Leadership is even more important during the current transition from a paper-based records management program to one in which information is...

Driving better business performance with document management processes: a recent survey suggests how organizations can align their document management processes with their business goals.
November 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Business documents constitute the lifeblood of an organization. Though often overlooked as red tape, they are vital strategic, financial, and information assets essential to the successful operation of a business....

American National Standards and the RIM industry: a primer: standards are important to the records and information management (RIM) industry, and American National Standards should play an increasingly prominent role in the industry's ongoing quest for quality.(Setting Standards)
November 1, 2008... The U.S. celebration of "World Standards Day," which has been observed around the world for decades, was held in Washington, D.C., October 23. The annual U.S. event, co-chaired by the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the...

CMS, RMS? Spelling out the right information management solution: organizations sifting through an alphabet soup of information management solutions must understand their specific needs and the strengths and weaknesses of each type of solution to choose the one--or combination of solutions--that will best meet their needs.(ManagementWise)
November 1, 2008... There is both good news and bad news for records and information management (RIM) professionals struggling to manage their records. Among the good news--today's technology solutions have delivered nearly limitless ways to store, manage, and...