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CPSR News Volume 13, Number 2: Summer 1995

The most widely publicized legal case that addressed these issues, known as the PROFS litigation, was initiated by a Freedom of Information Act request for access to electronic documents maintained by the White House.¹

The PROFS litigation has caused judicial review of questions relating to the legal status of information stored in electronic mail systems and authority over the disposition of federal records, presidential records, and personal materials of federal officials.

The PROFS litigation raises many specific legal issues concerning the Freedom of Information Act, the Federal Records Act, the Presidential Records Act, and the Administrative Procedures Act, as well as specific technical concerns regarding the design and configuration of information systems.

The implications of the legal cases reach beyond the particular records, individuals, and institutions involved in the legal actions. Their resolution will have a lasting impact on the nature of historical records in the information age and on the ability of researchers to use electronic records as reliable, authentic evidence of past events, facts, and actions.

Therefore, the Society of American Archivists, the largest and oldest association of archivists in the United States, representing more than 3,000 individuals and 500 institutions, proclaims its position as follows:

1. Electronic communications that are created, stored, or transmitted through electronic mail systems in the normal course of activities are records.
2. Professional archivists should have exclusive authority to determine the long-term value of records and the most appropriate methods for ensuring preservation of and continuing access to them. In determining the long-term value of records, archivists should be shielded from undue political or personal pressures.

   Archivists must have sufficient authority and independence to determine the adequacy of documentation, the effectiveness of recordkeeping systems, and the continuing value of records. Archivists should not be pressured into approving the destruction of records because they may implicate, embarrass, or expose to unfavorable publicity the originators or subjects of the records.

   These decisions must be based exclusively on professional judgment, guided by a professional code of ethics that forbids professional archivists from revealing or profiting from information they encounter in the course of their work.²

3. Preserving electronic records and providing continuing access to them will require significant changes in recordkeeping policies and practices and an enhanced role for archivists in designing recordkeeping systems, appraising records, and setting standards for their retention and preservation.

To reduce the risk of legal actions, loss of valuable records, and expensive recovery procedures, recordkeeping requirements must be identified so that systems can automatically segregate records from non-record material. Organizations must then take appropriate measures to ensure that records with continuing value are not corrupted inadvertently, deleted intentionally, lost through system failure, or rendered inaccessible by hardware or software obsolescence. Professional archivists can provide advice that would allow for the creation of systems able to

• Automatically segregate records from other forms of information
• Maintain the integrity and authenticity of records
• Ensure the accessibility of records over time
• Protect the confidentiality of records
• Ensure appropriate flow of records in relation to administrative processes
• Maintain proper documentation of systems, records, and transactions
• Administer the regular and orderly disposition of records with no continuing value

In 1993, the Society of American Archivists Council endorsed curriculum guidelines for automated records and techniques, recommending that all professional archivists become familiar with the basic concepts of electronic recordkeeping and automation in archives by the year 2000. In 1994, the Society of American Archivists established an Electronic Records Strategies Task Force to provide further guidance to the profession on electronic records issues.

Notwithstanding the many initiatives that the Society has taken, is taking, and will continue to take, the challenges presented by the ever increasing use of new information technologies and the rapidity with which they change are too formidable to be dealt with in isolation. A larger collective effort is needed to ensure that individuals and organizations acting on behalf of society remain accountable for their actions and that future generations can look to earlier records for inspiration, warning, guidance, or simply in order to reflect on the past.

The Society of American Archivists reaffirms the ultimate importance of creating and maintaining reliable and authentic records for administrative and historical accountability. The Society of American Archivists seeks support, cooperation, assistance, and advice in this endeavor from allied professions and everyone concerned about preservation of the historical record in the information age.

Notes

¹Scott Armstrong, et al., plaintiffs v. Executive Office of the President, et al., defendants; Scott Armstrong, et al., appellees v. George Bush, et al., appellants; and American Historical Association, et al., plaintiffs v. Trudy Peterson, Acting Archivist of the United States, defendant. All three cases refer to information in the PROFS electronic mail system used in the White House.

²SAA Code of Ethics. This position statement is an excerpt from an SAA press release posted by Luciana Duranti (luciana@UNIXG.UBC.CA) in listserv archives@miamiu.acs.muohio.edu March 23, 1995

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