How seriously should companies treat their outbound emails? And are they handling the issue appropriately?

For some, these might be significant questions in light of study, reported in the National Law Journal, showing that more than one in three large US companies had their emails subpoenaed by a court or regulatory body in the last year.

But if that's not bad enough, the problem is bound to get worse with the growth of blogs, message boards and various social networking tools like Facebook.

It will be fascinating to watch how companies will deal with that without alienating their Gen Y employees.