IRS Lost All External Emails sent by Lois Lerner in it's Own Infinite Void of Incompetence - Polidicks

Here's an in-depth forensic look on how it happened [QUOTE]Prior to the eruption of the IRS controversy last spring, the IRS had a policy of backing up the data on its email server (which runs Microsoft Outlook) every day. It kept a backup of the records for six months on digital tape, according to a letter sent from the IRS to Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Orrin Hatch (R-Utah). After six months, the IRS would reuse those tapes for newer backups. So when Congressional committees began requesting emails from the agency, its records only went back to late 2012.[/QUOTE] [QUOTE]The IRS also had two other policies that complicated things. The first was a limit on how big its employees' email inboxes could be. At the IRS, employees could keep 500 megabytes of data on the email server. If the mailbox got too big, email would need to be deleted or moved to a local folder on the user's computer.[/QUOTE] [QUOTE]Emails considered an "official record" of the IRS couldn't be deleted and, in fact, needed to also have a hard copy filed. Those emails that constitute an official record are ones that are loosely defined under IRS policy as ones that were "[c]reated or received in the transaction of agency business," "appropriate for preservation as evidence of the government's function or activities," or "valuable because of the information they contain". The letter sent to the senators suggests that it was up to the user to determine what emails met those standards. It's not clear if Lerner had any hard copies of important emails.[/QUOTE] [URL="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2014/06/16/heres-how-the-irs-lost-emails-from-key-witness-lois-lerner/"]source[/URL] Even if you don't agree with what conservatives or tea-baggers do this should bother you.

I understand that a large agency can generate an asinine amount of email, but I'd expect email quotas to be very, very lax in this day and age. Hard drives are cheap these days.

[quote]The IRS also had two other policies that complicated things. The first was a limit on how big its employees' email inboxes could be. At the IRS, employees could keep 500 megabytes of data on the email server. If the mailbox got too big, email would need to be deleted or moved to a local folder on the user's computer.[/quote] [img_thumb]http://i.imgur.com/eCch5Ot.jpg[/img_thumb]

The NSA just claims it's too difficult to search through their internal email, so they can't respond to FOIA requests. v:v:v

[QUOTE=elixwhitetail;45126259]The NSA just claims it's too difficult to search through their internal email, so they can't respond to FOIA requests. v:v:v[/QUOTE] Speaking of which, if the teabaggers really want to continue their witchhunt, they should be asking the NSA for internal IRS e-mails. They've probably got them.

It's not a witch-hunt. The use of the IRS as a political weapon, which is what happened here, isn't a Republican or Democratic issue. It's a massive misuse of power that screams of using the government as a means to stay in power, and dismissing it as "those damn tea partiers rabblerousing again" is dangerously simplistic.

[quote] At the IRS, employees could keep 500 megabytes of data on the email server. If the mailbox got too big, email would need to be deleted or moved to a local folder on the user's computer.[/quote] how the hell do you use up 500 Mb of space for email, thats like over a few million emails

[QUOTE=Sableye;45126704]how the hell do you use up 500 Mb of space for email, thats like over a few million emails[/QUOTE] Attachments. Getting CCed on everything. Lots of corporate spam emails. Semi-useless cron emails. Being a manager means getting BCCed or CCed on just about everything.

I'm sorry, it's just far, far too convenient to abruptly "lose" what people were asking for. They say that her computer crashed - which was what caused the removal of all the back-ups stored on the hard drive. I thought the only way a hard drive becomes irrecoverable is through complete failure, physical damage, or freak mishaps? I'm not even political on this, I know nothing about why people were doing an FOIA or even who Lois Lerner besides what the article says.

[QUOTE=Used Car Salesman;45126420]Speaking of which, if the teabaggers really want to continue their witchhunt, they should be asking the NSA for internal IRS e-mails. They've probably got them.[/QUOTE] They already have. [url]http://stockman.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/stockman-asks-nsa-for-lois-lerner-metadata-after-irs-claims-glitch[/url]

[quote]Hard drives are cheap these days. [/quote] You would be insane to use hard drives for long term storage. You would use tape instead.

Why such a short period of time to hold emails when they have statute of limitations issues to deal with? Not having correspondence to cover at least that period of time is really ridiculous when they deal with cases going back years.

[QUOTE=pentium;45127162]You would be insane to use hard drives for long term storage. You would use tape instead.[/QUOTE] Of course, but those are still cheaper than ever before. It's not like allowing everyone to have 5-10GB of storage with yearly archives and wipes of all 3+ year old mail should be a problem. That sort of storage equates to an utterly ridiculous amount of email, and even considering the number of employees, I can't see it being more than a drop in the bucket of their overall budget.

[QUOTE=Zephyrs;45126049]I understand that a large agency can generate an asinine amount of email, but I'd expect email quotas to be very, very lax in this day and age. Hard drives are cheap these days.[/QUOTE] No one ever uses harddrives for long term backups. No one. [QUOTE=pentium;45127162]You would be insane to use hard drives for long term storage. You would use tape instead.[/QUOTE] Pretty much. Unless your organization was so careless they would backup to WD Greens lmao.

Can't they just ask the NSA for a copy? [editline]17th June 2014[/editline] We're all thinking it.

[QUOTE=Nikita;45126104][img_thumb]http://i.imgur.com/eCch5Ot.jpg[/img_thumb][/QUOTE] I read that and I thought "these guys are fucking nazis man..."

[QUOTE=Zephyrs;45126049]I understand that a large agency can generate an asinine amount of email, but I'd expect email quotas to be very, very lax in this day and age. Hard drives are cheap these days.[/QUOTE] I don't know what Government use this day and age (I imagine it's some old Microsoft Outlook based system). But they should probably upgrade to a internally hosted mail system (that isn't crap) or grab some professional Zimbra or Google Business email. Also, most hosted Email providers limit to 30GB of storage.

Just ask NSA for their copy of all the emails?

[QUOTE=StrawberryClock;45134664]Can't they just ask the NSA for a copy? [editline]17th June 2014[/editline] We're all thinking it.[/QUOTE] [QUOTE=Awesomecaek;45135328]Just ask NSA for their copy of all the emails?[/QUOTE] You guys really need to read the thread: [QUOTE=Used Car Salesman;45126420]Speaking of which, if the teabaggers really want to continue their witchhunt, they should be asking the NSA for internal IRS e-mails. They've probably got them.[/QUOTE]

They've already asked the NSA for the metadata related to that account. Also, they "lost" the emails to 6 other persons of interest in the investigation, not just hers.