data retention

Storing information long-term

Data retention is the practice of keeping information for a specified period, particularly by organizations storing user data, communications records, or business documents.

The term often appears in legal and regulatory contexts, where laws mandate how long companies must preserve certain records: The company's data retention policy requires deleting customer emails after seven years.

Data retention debates frequently pit privacy advocates against law enforcement interests.

Related

audit trails · paper trail · erasure · file · statutory requirements · purge · GDPR · disposition · metadata · backup solutions · archive · access controls · expiration · database management · standards · policy · audit · encryption

Opposites
data lifecycle action

data retentiondata destruction

information persistence

data retentiondisappearing messages

Auto-deleting digital correspondence

privacy/surveillance stance

data retentionright to be forgotten

Legal power to delete records

data protection

Family

data, retention

Familiarity
Top 500,000
Profile
Used worldwide · Timeless · Abstract · Rated G