A new e-mail tool that allows Lotus Notes and Domino users to retract unread e-mails from a person’s inbox is most likely in violation of more than one of the U.K.’s surveillance and data protection laws.

See:
E-mail retraction tool breaking laws?,
by Wendy McAuliffe for ZDNet (UK).

The Office of the Information Commissioner has warned that the Demailer tool, announced by IBM/Lotus on Wednesday, could conflict with e-mail interception principles set out in the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA). The e-mail retraction utility is also in danger of infringing data processing guidelines contained within the Data Protection Act 1998, as the intended recipient will be unaware that an e-mail has been retrieved from their inbox.

“If the tool allows an individual to retrieve an e-mail from the server, that is not unreasonable,” said David Clancy, assistant commissioner to the information commissioner. “But if it allows someone to retrieve an e-mail from beyond the server, when the e-mail is waiting in the inbox, we would see this as interception, which also has potential data protection issues.”

The IBM/Lotus Demailer, developed by IT Simple, allows users of Lotus Domino Notes to retract e-mails within any organization, across any organization’s domains, within private Domino intranets, and from Domino customers and suppliers through the Internet. The tool is designed for the retrieval of e-mails sent in error, without the receiver being informed. E-mail retraction has been a feature of some systems for years, but recent legislation may mean that such a tool is no longer legitimate for business purposes.