Mobile technology that promises better communication and increased workplace efficiency can be hard to resist. But an advisor who runs out to the mall, picks up the latest BlackBerry and signs on with a service provider risks falling afoul of the Investment Dealers Association of Canada.

Under IDA Bylaw 29.7, investment dealers must archive for five years all e-mail flowing in and out of their firms — including e-mails sent by mobile wireless devices.

With the technology already ubiquitous, the regulation seems the high-tech equivalent to shutting the barn door after the horse has bolted. Still, there are ways for investment dealers and their advisors to get control of mobile message archiving in order to comply with the regulations.

The BlackBerry, Research In Motion Ltd. ’s combination phone and e-mail device, is one of the most popular mobile platforms. RIM provides ways to capture and store wireless messages.

At the high end, RIM has the BlackBerry enterprise server, which is a software application that sits on top of a customer’s in-house e-mail server, relaying company e-mail to BlackBerry devices used by employees. Intended only for businesses running their own e-mail server software, the enterprise server does not include an archiving capability of its own. But any messages that it sends to employees’ BlackBerrys can be archived using the customer’s own e-mail archiving software, such as Fortiva Inc. ’s product. BlackBerry devices connecting to this system can be treated as just another e-mail client, similar to how a desktop computer would be treated.

The BlackBerry enterprise server makes archiving BlackBerry e-mail relatively easy; on the other hand, small-business pricing for the server starts at $2,000 for five user licences, with an additional $1,430 for extra blocks of five users, which could make it very expensive for smaller investment dealers.

Such businesses may instead choose to use the BlackBerry Internet service, which is
operated through most major mobile carriers. In this scenario, the BlackBerry user sets up an e-mail account with an address supplied by the mobile carrier, and then receives and sends BlackBerry e-mails via that account.

The BlackBerry Internet service does supply the means to archive such e-mails, thereby avoiding archiving problems. The Internet service can be integrated with up to 10 external e-mail accounts, and allows the user to leave the mail on the server, explains David Heit, senior product manager at RIM in Waterloo, Ont.

“If you’ve already achieved logging capability for your e-mail in general, then any traffic on the BlackBerry would be captured as a byproduct,” he says.

But that is the crucial point: the integration of other e-mail accounts into the BlackBerry Internet service does not mean they are archived. This is something a small business must look after itself, just as it must when using the BlackBerry enterprise server.

Doing this could be as simple as the business backing up its Outlook database after the advisor has downloaded e-mail from the Internet service provider to his or her desktop.
But some service providers fold e-mail archiving into a wider service aimed at small businesses.

Bell Canada, for example, offers BlackBerry access as part of its Productivity Pak, essentially a hosted version of the Microsoft Exchange server that some larger businesses buy and operate themselves on their own premises. Along with Exchange facilities, such as group scheduling and contact management, the Productivity Pak also manages the businesses’ e-mail, meaning that it can be delivered to a recipient’s BlackBerry while also being stored on the provider’s server.

In addition to storing e-mail received by BlackBerry users, a hosted Exchange server also has the advantage of storing e-mail sent from BlackBerrys to people outside the company, which also fall under the IDA bylaw. When sending e-mail using the BlackBerry Internet service via another carrier, it is not altogether clear that such e-mail would be stored outside of the BlackBerry device itself. Failing to store sent e-mail in the same archive as e-mail received could create compliance problems.

But companies using BlackBerrys have another issue to consider: PIN-to-PIN messaging. BlackBerry devices using the personal identification number service can message other devices directly without touching an e-mail server.

A PIN message is typically routed by RIM to one of more than 100 wireless carriers.
While a correctly configured BlackBerry e-mail service can archive messages, PIN messages are much more difficult to track. This has led many companies simply to disable the PIN messaging feature on employee handhelds, as Royal Bank of Canada did in March this year.

@page_break@But it is still possible to track PIN messages if you know what you’re doing, even if it involves simply reading the PIN messages on a BlackBerry submitted as court evidence. This is probably what happened when CIBC World Markets Inc. sued Toronto-based investment firm Genuity Capital Markets for allegedly attempting to poach its staff. In the case, which is still ongoing, the company cited PIN messages retrieved from BlackBerrys as evidence.

“For the longest time, people thought that if they went the route of using the PIN, there would not be a record of using it. But the CIBC lawsuit taught us otherwise,” says Javad Heydary, managing partner at Toronto-based technology law firm Heydary Hamilton.

Companies caught in such situations that have thought ahead could also use one of the third-party software products that can be installed by employers on BlackBerry devices to monitor PIN messages. These can be obtained from such companies as Onset
Technology Inc. and Wallace Wireless Inc. But starting with Version 4.1 of Enterprise Server (available in Q1 of next year), RIM will also be providing this feature, which will require its own PIN monitoring software to be shipped on BlackBerry devices.

As if e-mail and PIN messaging were not enough, RIM also supports instant-messaging software for some of its BlackBerry devices. Instant messaging, which enables individuals to chat with each other in real time, has rapidly gained popularity in many Canadian companies. The BlackBerry Internet service is already planning support for enterprise-wide instant-messaging services from such companies as IBM Corp. and Microsoft Corp.

The IBM and Microsoft services are unlikely to present investment dealers with compliance problems because they are services specifically tailored for company environments. This means they automatically archive messages sent to and from the devices. But BlackBerrys using the BlackBerry Internet service can also be used with the Yahoo! instant-messaging service, which is not tied in to an enterprise archiving system. That presents a potential hole in the dealers’ business communications through which unaudited messages could slip.

“Instant messaging certainly would be included in the bylaw,” says Larry Boyce, vice
president of sales compliance and registration at the IDA in Toronto.

So, casual instant-messaging users beware. Smaller businesses exclusively using the BlackBerry Internet service might want to prohibit the installation of such non-monitored software explicitly in writing to protect themselves in the event of a compliance investigation.

Ultimately, the use of policy is as important as the use of monitoring and blocking technologies when using new communications mechanisms. Monitor company e-mail, and an individual with dishonest motives could use a personal Webmail account.
Record phone calls, and someone could use an encrypted voice over Internet service, either at the office or at home, for nefarious purposes. Monitoring and archiving all electronic communications is vital, but just as crucial is a clear written explanation of what constitutes appropriate use of electronic communications in a business context.
IE