Viacom institutes clean inbox policy
In a move that might sound like either a horror film or a fantasy to millions of workers with bulging inboxes, Viacom has instituted a new policy that automatically deletes employee emails from its electronic mail system after 30 days.
The movie and cable TV corporation first told employees about the new policy May 12, Viacom said in a statement. The Wrap first reported the news.
Viacom workers will have 90 days to clean out their inboxes before the new policy take effect. Email deletions are expected to begin over the summer.
All emails will be automatically deleted unless they need to be retained longer for business needs or legal requirements, Viacom said.
The policy at one of the nation's largest entertainment companies comes six months after the massive Sony Pictures Entertainment hack, which resulted in tens of thousands of extremely sensitive Sony emails being published online.
Email deletion periods of 90 or a 120 days are relatively common among companies, said Devin McRae, an entertainment lawyer with Early Sullivan Wright Gizer & McRae in Los Angeles.
The Viacom schedule is relatively aggressive, but perhaps is a sign of things to come in the wake of the Sony hack.
"While a 30 day period is short, I think we are beginning to see a shift towards that," McRae said.