40 replies to this topic

[Mike K.]

Having said that, it was noted today in the TC that Duncan is claiming that the deleted emails were likely innocuous and had no bearing on the highway of tears issue. He would know since they were his emails that were deleted. He was reporting the process not a concern over the content of the emails.

Ok, see, this is starting to make more sense now.

[pherthyl]

They don't have access to the backup. This is a feature of outlook which doesn't permanently delete an email right away.

 

The solution to prevent users from deleting emails is bizarre. So users will now have a thousand spam emails in their inbox and they are supposed to somehow function? Seems to me like finding relevant emails will become even harder.

 

The solution is not to prevent people from deleting emails.   People can delete emails all they like, the point is in an enterprise email system there is always a backup even if you have deleted it from your local outlook.

[Bingo]

There seems to be a simple solution here. Most corporate email systems archive emails. Even if a user deletes the email 100 times then it has no impact on the archive since the email is archived before it even hits the user inbox. Investigators then just search the archive.

 

Having said that, it was noted today in the TC that Duncan is claiming that the deleted emails were likely innocuous and had no bearing on the highway of tears issue. He would know since they were his emails that were deleted. He was reporting the process not a concern over the content of the emails.

 

At what level of government does an employee have the right to choose what is "innocuous" and has no bearing on an issue.

Sometimes the most trivial piece of information is the key to solving a problem, just like a good old gumshoe like Columbo used to do.

 

But another thing is the protocol being used, and I am no expert on this, but I did deal with this a few years ago when the Telus server said I had too much stuff stored.

I switched from a POP protocol to an IMAP protocol.

This allowed me to delete redundant emails from the server, but still keep them on my desktop computer if I so desired.

I don't know what protocol the government uses, but someone here can probably shed so light on this.

 

more on Pop vs IMAP here.

http://fourpointscon...imap-versus-pop

[G-Man]

It's pop. Govt employees cannot triple delete emails. Not sure how this person was able to do that. That 14 day archive can only be accessed centrally through IM/IT. There are very strict rules on keeping emails that must be followed. New rules are coming next year and there will no longer be paper copies of most items so no more boxes requiring storage.

[Nparker]

...New rules are coming next year and there will no longer be paper copies of most items so no more boxes requiring storage.

In theory.

[Bingo]

 New rules are coming next year and there will no longer be paper copies of most items so no more boxes requiring storage.

So no more RCMP raids on the Legislature.

[pherthyl]

It's pop. Govt employees cannot triple delete emails. Not sure how this person was able to do that. That 14 day archive can only be accessed centrally through IM/IT. There are very strict rules on keeping emails that must be followed. New rules are coming next year and there will no longer be paper copies of most items so no more boxes requiring storage.

 

Really?  Its not all exchange?

[lanforod]

More likely Exchange. Far more likely. Pop is probably enabled too though.

[Bingo]

The B.C. Liberal government quietly released on Monday one batch of documents related to the Highway of Tears that the information and privacy commissioner rapped officials for withholding.

On Monday, 13 of the 36 pages were posted on the public “open information” website where all FOI responses are listed.

Most of the pages were censored on grounds they related to policy advice, or disclosure would be harmful to intergovernmental relations or negotiations.

But on the intact pages there are references to missing women and the “highway of tears.”

- See more at: http://www.timescolo...h.SmUkHtSc.dpuf

 

 

[jklymak]

I read an interesting article in the Atlantic about the Clinton emails that mentioned something I'd forgotten.  Official correspondence, including emails, for the US cabinet are sealed for 50 years so that they can have frank and open conversations.  It also discourages shenanigans like triple deleting "sensitive information".  Clinton ironically got into trouble for using a private server which in the end afforded her less privacy than if she'd put her correspondence into the sealed vault of the government server.  It sounds scandalous in today's world of FOI requests, but I think some level of correspondence should be private.  Yes, decisions should be documented with proper meeting minutes and/or memos and shouldn't be sealed, but I think its better in the long run if we can believe an archive is available 50 years from now so historians can understand what happened, rather than having government officials have to do everything by back channels.  

[Greg]

Where is it policy to print out and file important emails?    

 

1996.

[tedward]

Furthermore triple deleting is standard practice. It's nothing sinister.

 

Where? "triple deleting" is virtually unknown to most people and only slightly less paranoid than wearing tinfoil hats.

[spanky123]

Where? "triple deleting" is virtually unknown to most people and only slightly less paranoid than wearing tinfoil hats.

 

Triple deleting in this context is simply setting up your trash folder so that it does not retain deleted emails for any extra length of time. Many companies set their email policies so that this happens automatically. In most cases it is not some sinister act, in fact the first time I even heard the term triple deleting was from the media who appear to have just made it up to make it sound bad.

Edited by spanky123, 05 November 2015 - 07:39 AM.

[lanforod]

Triple deleting in this context is simply setting up your trash folder so that it does not retain deleted emails for any extra length of time. Many companies set their email policies so that this happens automatically. In most cases it is not some sinister act, in fact the first time I even heard the term triple deleting was from the media who appear to have just made it up to make it sound bad.

 

That's only double deletion. The third one is also deleting the server backups - which rarely happens before a very long period of time in most organizations.

[Mike K.]

Anyone can triple delete and it's a very common practice. Some government organizations are even asked to mass triple-delete if sensitive information may have been inadvertently sent out.

 

Step 1: delete email from inbox

Step 2: delete emails from deleted emails folder (double delete)

Step 3: delete emails from the "recover deleted emails" folder (triple delete)

 

Emails from step 2 get sent to the recovery folder where they are stored for a finite amount of time but can be manually purged by the user as well.

[spanky123]

That's only double deletion. The third one is also deleting the server backups - which rarely happens before a very long period of time in most organizations.

 

In the context of what the media is referring to here this is not deletion from a backup. It is not having a retention policy on deleted emails. The company I work for as an example does not even create the recovered emails folder in the first place.

[http]

Anyone can triple delete and it's a very common practice. Some government organizations are even asked to mass triple-delete if sensitive information may have been inadvertently sent out.

 

Step 1: delete email from inbox

Step 2: delete emails from deleted emails folder (double delete)

Step 3: delete emails from the "recover deleted emails" folder (triple delete)

 

Emails from step 2 get sent to the recovery folder where they are stored for a finite amount of time but can be manually purged by the user as well.

 

This looks different from what has been described in the news.

[Bingo]

Anyone can triple delete and it's a very common practice. Some government organizations are even asked to mass triple-delete if sensitive information may have been inadvertently sent out.

 

Step 1: delete email from inbox

Step 2: delete emails from deleted emails folder (double delete)

Step 3: delete emails from the "recover deleted emails" folder (triple delete)

 

Emails from step 2 get sent to the recovery folder where they are stored for a finite amount of time but can be manually purged by the user as well.

 

Step 4: poor acid into your hard drive.

Step 5: throw computer over the side of a BC Ferry in Active Pass. 

Step 6: jump naked from the top deck.

[Benezet]

This is getting very serious:

http://www.theprovin...tml?id=11495684

[spanky123]

This is getting very serious:

http://www.theprovin...tml?id=11495684

 

Doesn't tell us anything. For all we know at this point the lawyers could have been sent to contest the accuracy of the report. Interesting that the PC is now refusing to comment claiming that the issue is under review by the RCMP when the RCMP have made no such claim.