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> Because of laws passed after the Enron scandal, publicly traded companies are required to retain internal communications for long periods of time.

I've heard it phrased this way: never send an email that you wouldn't be happy to read out in court.

But I'm curious, how can this policy be enforced? If I delete some of my work emails, how can a court prove that the emails ever existed and that I deleted them?

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If you're subject to an investigation they'll put retention policies on them to stop that. If you're not, sure you can delete them and wait for them to disappear out of the backup windows, but then you'll need everyone who got that email to do the same.

As I was told in my first day of training at a large investment bank, "If you have something sensitive to discuss, pick up the phone".

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