Could the missing government e-mails be found in the

[JDPriestly]

data the government is collecting as a part of its spying on citizens? I have no idea how that spying thing works. I'm actually wondering whether it is possible that our own intelligence network could have picked up copies of those e-mails and whether they might be retrievable from its servers or database. I'm a total idiot about computers and ignorant about how the spying project works, but I'm wondering if that is possible.

[Hekate]

1. There have been many knowledgable posts about the retrievability of this data.

All it takes is know-how and motivation, and those emails can certainly be brought to the light of day -- unless all the hard drives themselves have been melted down. As many people as were cc'd -- that's how many computers will have some of this data.
:evilgrin:

Hekate

[JDPriestly]

2. Thanks.

[TrogL]

3. I'd like to see one of them

I'm a mail administrator. If the email is gone and there's no backup, it's gone. Especially in Exchange.

[Marnieworld]

5. I think they meant the recipients

The email would be gone from the senders mailbox and server but not the recipients since that backup and deletion is unknown. For example I'm turdblossom and I send an illegal RNC email to other illegal RNC accounts and some gov accounts too. There's no way of making sure all of those individuals do not have a copy still on their hard drives, Blackberries, copies of mailboxes on different computers. Even if all mail was never retrieved locally and only stored on the server, mail was forwarded outside of that system. From the email evidence revealed it is clear that many RNC emails were sent to gov addresses and vice versa and those addresses, it is my understanding, archive all email by law. So even though they thought they were getting around the archiving with how they sent it they can't control the gov's archiving the received mail. Not to mention other recipients in the cool GOP crowd that might have ordinary accounts on ISPs that are also stored locally. It's a tapestry that can be unravelled if only someone pulls a thread.

[Hekate]

6. Your company's system doesn't do automatic backups of its files?

My in-house-tech-support (i.e. Mr.H) talks as though this is industry standard. He agrees with the DUers who believe that not everything can be permanently lost, because systems are designed that way.

I don't do backups on my home computer, but that's a different story. But what I also don't do is delete my emails in anything like a timely manner. I tend to sort them into files by subject or sender and keep them, which makes me wonder how many other people, such as those on Rove's mailing lists, do likewise.

Hekate

[Fridays Child]

4. It would figure. Bushistas seem to be particularly adept at screwing themselves.

Wouldn't surprise me one bit, if they inadvertantly collected enough self-incriminating information to bust themselves.