There has been quite a bit of controversy over the "Mark Foley Scandal".

From the Wikipedia:

Mark Adam Foley (born September 8, 1954 in Newton, Massachusetts) was an American Republican politician and a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1995 until 2006, representing the 16th District of Florida.

Foley resigned from the U.S. Congress on September 29, 2006 after it surfaced that he had sent sexually explicit instant messages[1] to former Congressional pages who were both under and over the age of 18.[2] [3][4]. He had previously been warned about "overly friendly" emails to former Congressional pages. As a result of the disclosures, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) opened an investigation of the messages to find possible criminal charges

Given the government has put into effect all kinds of laws about digital messenging to protect people:

- Gramm-Leach-Bliley Financial Modernization Act (GLBA)

- Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX)

- Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA)

One has to wonder who watches the government for oversight in the digital realm? That is beyond my scope of knowledge, but companies might think about what a scandal like this might mean to them.

So where do you start? First figure out how much instant messenging traffic is going on in your network. Facetime has a free tool called the RTMonitor that can help with this.

Also get educated. Establish some IM policies- don't let incidents establish you. Facetime sponsored this whitepaper from the ReymannGroup.

A little snippet:

"...With the increased privacy and security awareness among businesses, customers, and our elected officials, traditional best practices are being incorporated into new laws and regulations that define a higher security standard that all affected organizations must achieve. Information security is no longer only a prudent business decision, it is mandated!..."

It's free and has a handy checklist too.

Best Practices for Emerging Compliance Challenges: Electronic Messaging and Communications (ReymannGroup)
[Direct Download PDF]