Most Text Messages Are Saved Only Briefly - Or Are They?

Link: Excite News - Most Text Messages Are Saved Only Briefly. We are all wrestling with electronic discovery issues nowadays. There is a proliferation of third party providers who claim to be able to glean information useful in litigation. Now, some of them are being sued by the law firms who engaged them, and are counter-suing for monies owed. Some are even getting law firms in trouble with Judges impatient with discovery problems. With all this conflict going on, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Apparently, text messages are only stored for 72 hours or so, and they then disappear into the vapor. Will text messaging replace email for sensitive communications? Should lawyers advise clients to make confidential communications via short texts? Text messaging passes through the same ether as email. Is there too much to intercept? Some carriers, like SkyTel, apparently do store text messages, which came as a shock to Detroit's Mayor and his paramour, whose romantic texts from 2003 have come back to haunt him. The only hard and fast rule is to always be aware that there is no expectation of privacy with electronic communications. Watch what you say.