WSJ.com - Technology: Instant Messages' Popularity Pushes Brokerages Into Action "Internet "instant messaging'' has overtaken the business world -- and that has set off a scramble at Wall Street firms, which are required to archive their every communication. ... Securities and Exchange Commission rules state any records related to "business as such" must be retained by firms for three years. So-called IM conversations -- like phone calls and e-mail -- would presumably fall under that rule, although it hasn't been tested by any specific case, an SEC spokesman said."