Today, if you Google the phrase, “email retention,” 19.6 Million matches are found. If nothing else, that means that this topic is surrounded by industry buzz. With all of the complex regulations that only include vague policies on email retention, it is hard to assess whether or not you will soon be thrown into the deep end. While following behind the pace car that signifies “industry best practice,” it is also hard to justify whether or not this costly and time consuming practice truly warrants your immediate attention. Requirements under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, Sections 802 and 1102 state that anyone who knowingly destroys or alters a document that turns out to impede an investigation or obstruct an official proceeding, is subject to a 20-year prison term. While most corporations have set some ground rules in regard to the appropriate way to utilize your corporate PC, it is hard to ascertain to what extent a company understands the content of their employee’s on-line interactions. Running scans to pick up “naughty” words in your e-mail can not protect a corporation from avoiding in house terrorist activities or corporate fraud. Research from the Radicatici Group, Inc. found that the average corporate email user sends and receives 84 emails a day, equating to 10MB of storage each day. This number is expected to rise to 15.8 MB per user, per day by 2008.