ComputerForensicsDigest.com

Proving yet again that "delete" is not a synonym for "destroy," at least in the context of electronic communications, Boston City Hall has released more than 5,000 emails sent by Michael J. Kineavy to other city employees. Kineavy is a top aide to Boston Mayor Thomas M. Meninon, and has been identified as a potentially relevant figure in the federal corruption investigation of former Massachusetts state senator Diane Wilkerson.

Earlier, in response to a Freedom of Information Act request filed by the Boston Globe, city officials said that they could only find 18 emails sent or received by Kineavy during a six-month period. The city said that Kineavy's emails were not backed up on city servers and preserved as required by state law because Kineavy had a routine of "double deleting" emails -- deleting them from his inbox and then electronically emptying his trash each night.

The 5,000+ emails produced by the City last week were recovered from the email accounts of fellow city employees who were less regimented in their handling of their electronic communications.

At issue is whether additional emails sent by Kineavy to people outside of City Hall can be recovered, either from the hard drive of Kineavy's own computer, or from city backup tapes. The city has been ordered by Secretary of State William F. Galvin to produce "all" of Kineavy's emails, but is now concerned that the cost of doing so may be prohibitive. An initial review of Kineavy's hard drive turned up just 60 emails, and the city reports that a full forensic analysis of both his hard drive and the city's servers could cost as much as $250,000.

Galvin has not determined yet whether the production of the available emails satisfies his order to the city. One question still to be determined is whether there are any significant gaps in the emails produced last week, Galvin said.

For his part, Kineavy said that the failure to preserve the emails stemmed from his misunderstanding of how the backup process worked. He told reporters at a press conference at the end of last week that he assumed his emails were being backed up despite his double-deletion habit.

"I’m sorry for making that assumption," Kineavy said, "because I feel like I caused a lot of people headaches, a lot of people in this room who have worked hard to try to get things back."

In Massachusetts, a municipal employee's failure to preserve electronic communications for a minimum of two years can result in a fine of up to $500 and up to a year in jail.