WANTED: Intern W/ Handyman Exp – Must Love Email and Power Tools

A couple of summers ago, that could have been the advertisement posted by the Democratic Department of Information Technology in Mount Holly, part of Dauphin County, for an available internship position.

While many of us talk about our coffee-getting and other entry-level adventures as interns - one took his position as something entirely different. As recent documents reveal, House intern Tyrell S. Drew spent his days erasing computer hard drives and destroying email backup tapes that would later become relevant to the attorney general's investigation into the legislative payroll scandal.

The tools of Drew's trade included a hand drill and a large magnet - both of which are devastating to the delicate nature of a hard drive's internal components. Is it fair to fault an intern for such actions? After all, he was presumably nothing more than an unassuming community college student in search of work experience - and he was only acting on orders from his superiors. It's quite possible that he didn't realize what he was doing was wrong.

But as the regularly-appearing headlines tell us, entire cases now hinge on the admissibility of electronic records (like emails and attachments). These headlines also serve as daily reminders that our government bodies aren't immune to the trials and tribulations brought about by the never-ending influx of data.

This just goes to show you that all organizations need to have some sort of system in place for preserving electronic records.