For many business executives, the word "document" is still associated with paper. But with e-discovery now commonplace and new rules coming in for handling electronic documents during litigation, legal experts say most businesses are behind the times.

Most document retention policies are ineffective, say lawyers Kenneth L. Stein and Richard H. An in this piece on the Law.com site.

Part of the problem, they say, is that most of these policies can't stop sensitive information from falling into the hands of others because deleting an e-mail or electronic document doesn't actually remove that information from a computer.

"In effect, discarding electronic files by deleting them is equivalent to discarding paper documents by putting them in a large garbage bin located on the company's premises that is not regularly emptied. Such documents are plainly in the company's possession and may be subject to production in a legal proceeding. It is possible that such documents are no longer accessible (if, for example, the bin was emptied) or legible (if, for example, other garbage in the bin obscured portions of the documents), but there would, of course, be no guarantee that that is the case. Certainly, no prudent company would dispose of paper documents in that manner. But that is, in essence, how electronic documents are discarded."

The answer would be to "wipe" the disc clean, but even that could be a problem, the lawyers say.

First, the courts still have to test these policies. And secondly, and probably more importantly, the parties would have to be very careful. They could be in serious trouble if they deleted documents when there was a reasonable chance of litigation. But then, other parties would have to produce the evidence of intent.

Welcome to the future.