http://media.netapp.com/documents/ar-netapp-snaplock-compliance.pdf
This has been a big debate in the legal world for some time now, with questions such as: "Does dedupe mean that a record has been actually been "altered" by users? The other question: Can one recover a given record back to its original state?
This line (from page 17) sums it up:
"...it is Cohasset’s opinion that the deduplication methodology, particularly the byte-for-byte comparisons performed on each potentially duplicate record block to determine deduplication, does not compromise the requirement of this Rule for maintaining the non-erasable, non-rewriteable recording status of each record file for the designated retention period."
Usual disclaimers apply:
This assessment represents the professional opinion of Cohasset Associates and should not be construed as an endorsement or rejection by Cohasset of the NetApp SnapLock and Deduplication capabilities or any other NetApp products. The information utilized by Cohasset to conduct this assessment consisted of a) oral discussions, b) product requirements c) functional description documents and d) other directly related materials provided by NetApp. It also included information acquired by Cohasset from publicly available sources. Additional information about Cohasset is provided in Section 3 of assessment. The content and conclusions of this assessment are not intended and should not be construed as legal advice. Relevant laws and regulations are constantly evolving and legal advice must be tailored to the specific circumstances of the laws and regulations for each organization. Therefore, nothing stated herein should be substituted for the advice of competent legal counsel.
Case closed!
