Posted 11:15 AM

"I'm from the government..."

Financial firms get new guidelines on customer IDs - Computerworld reports, as part of a story on CID requirements of the Patriot Act, that new Securities and Exchange Commission rules governing the logging and retention of electronic communications by financial services firms have gone into effect. These require exchange members, brokers and dealers to capture and maintain a log of all electronic communications for at least six years. This includes email and "instant messaging"! We might re-label this the "water cooler revival" act....