Learning from the Past While Planning for the Future: Taking Steps Now to Build Trust, Guarantee Access, and Ensure Preservation Over the Long–term in the Digital Economy

Summary

The benefits of information and communications technologies (ICT) in government are many: better delivery of government services, improved interaction with business and industry, citizen empowerment through access to information, and more efficient government management. However, governments also need to consider issues of maintenance, protection, and long–term preservation of and access to the digital content created by these technologies. Digital preservation strategies must be fully understood and integrated into systems design and architecture. Because different sectors and organizations have different requirements and use different technology it is key for the Government of Canada to be a model user and lay the foundation for extensibility and interoperability of systems. Without full consideration of all these issues, a truly integrated digital economy is not possible.

People need to be able to trust that the transactions that occur over the Internet will not compromise their privacy or security. Legislation and policy considerations must balance freedom of information and access to information against protection of individual privacy, copyright and intellectual property rights. Legislation protecting privacy and security must also address new and emerging technologies like Web 2.0 tools and cloud computing. Addressing these issues is essential for developing a favourable e–commerce environment.

Barriers to long–term digital preservation include insufficient education, awareness, training and funding. Governments and record creators need to understand that preservation of digital materials must begin at record creation and is an ongoing need that cannot wait until the end of the lifecycle of a record. The capacity to preserve digital records must be a consideration when the design of systems generating records is undertaken. If Canadian businesses, institutions and individuals are to have the skills needed to adopt and apply digital technologies with confidence, if they are to have trust in transactions that take place in the online marketplace, then they must understand the consequences of the use of digital technologies.

Submission

Introduction

The Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages, the Honourable James Moore, states in his message in the consultation paper on a digital economy strategy for Canada that "The Government of Canada's role is to put in place a marketplace framework in which you as creators, inventors and entrepreneurs have the incentives to innovate, the confidence to take risks and the tools to succeed."

The benefits of information and communications technologies (ICT) in government are many: better delivery of government services, improved interaction with business and industry, citizen empowerment through access to information, and more efficient government management. This corresponds directly with increased transparency, greater convenience, revenue growth and/or cost reduction. These benefits cannot be realized, however, without a shared understanding of how the information, and most importantly the records resulting from its use, can be guaranteed authentic, reliable, secure and accessible over time, and without a commitment at all levels of government, as well as in the private sector, to make it so through policy and practice. All too often lip–service is paid to the importance of good (digital) records management, including the management of privacy issues related to records, but the implementation is waived away to be dealt with "later."

The implementation of a national digital architecture is necessarily incremental, and public trust is built over time. However, the building block method of developing, designing and implementing a digital architecture may result in the need for re–engineering efforts directed to existing and legacy systems. It is difficult to build the capacity for digital preservation and protection of privacy in systems that were not designed with these requirements in mind. To be "model users" of digital technologies, governments need to consider issues of maintenance, protection, and long–term preservation of and access to the digital content created by these technologies (e.g., e–health, e–commerce, open government initiatives, etc.).

Canada's digital economy strategy needs to address issues of copyright and intellectual property, privacy and security that accompany digital information creation and sharing, and long–term preservation. Information and records professionals can bring the required knowledge to the ICT table and should be included in planning and building the "world–class digital infrastructure on which Canadians will be able to locate, utilize and share Canadian digital content."

Knowledge Contribution of the InterPARES Project

The International Research on Permanent Authentic Records in Electronic Systems (InterPARES) is a SSHRC–funded multidisciplinary project that aims to develop the knowledge essential for the long–term preservation of authentic records created and/or maintained in digital form and provides the basis for standards, policies, strategies and plans of action capable of ensuring the longevity of such material and the ability of its users to trust its authenticity.

The InterPARES research began in 1999 and will continue through 2012.¹ It has developed through three phases. InterPARES 1 focused on the preservation of the authenticity of electronic records that are no longer needed by the creating body to fulfill its own mandate, mission or purpose. The records examined were primarily textual documents produced and maintained in databases and document management systems. This phase produced conceptual requirements for authenticity and methods for the selection and preservation of authentic electronic records.²

The focus of InterPARES 2 was to develop and articulate the concepts, principles, criteria and methods that can ensure the creation and maintenance of accurate and reliable records and the long–term preservation of authentic records in the context of artistic, scientific and government activities that are conducted using experiential, interactive and dynamic computer technologies. This research addressed the challenge presented by the manipulability and incompatibility of digital systems, technological obsolescence, and media fragility to guarantee that society's digitally recorded memory will be accessible to future generations.³

The current phase, InterPARES 3, builds upon the findings of the first two, as well as on other digital preservation projects worldwide. It aims to put theory into practice by working with small and medium sized or low resources organizations internationally across sectors to implement the findings of the projects mentioned above, with the goal of creating trustworthy digital records that can be maintained and preserved authentic and reliable over the long term.

The Digital Economy Consultation and Long–term Preservation

The Consultation Paper speaks to the Government of Canada's commitment to a digital economy strategy that will drive adoption of new technology, encourage new ideas, protect the rights of Canadians and strengthen intellectual property and copyright laws in order for Canada to be increasingly competitive and prosperous. However, the technological innovations of today may create the obsolescent and inaccessible media of tomorrow if interoperability and extensibility are not built into systems, and if digital preservation strategies are not fully understood and integrated into systems design and architecture.

As stated by the Organization for Economic Co–operation and Development (OECD), "[Digital content] will increasingly become the basic creative infrastructure underpinning the knowledge economy and be at the centre of health, educational, and cultural activities."⁴ Thus, the digital economy consultation must take into account the long–term preservation requirements of the content that is created using ICTs. In fact, the push to make government data, which are seen as a government asset, available to citizens in order to repurpose them ("objective is to use outstanding government content to push the market forward, provide good services, and establish good access to public content resources.")⁵ must be tempered by careful consideration of the key issues that directly and indirectly impact the use of such data, including access, privacy and preservation.

"Establishing the necessary national legislation, guidelines and governance principles are a key concern."⁶ If governments are to act as model users, then they must ensure best practices in all areas of ICT development and adoption, including not only security, privacy and confidentiality, but also interoperability and extensibility, and they must develop and implement digital preservation policy that protects the authenticity, reliability and accuracy of digital information. This knowledge exists through several large research initiatives into the nature of digital information—primarily, as mentioned above, the InterPARES Project. The findings of this and other research are available to this consultation through the inclusion in the consultation itself of trained information professionals, archivists and records managers.

Innovation Using Digital Technologies

• Should Canada focus on increasing innovation in some key sectors or focus on providing the foundation for innovation across the economy?

Because different sectors and organizations have different requirements and use different technology it is key for the Government of Canada to lay the foundation for extensibility and interoperability of systems. Without such measures a truly integrated economy is not possible.

The Government of Canada must establish regulatory and policy frameworks that include best practices for the management and preservation of digital information to facilitate the "intelligent adoption of digital technologies." The foundation for innovation at a national level should include the development and implementation of a national digital strategy that takes into account the requirements of long–term digital preservation and the ways in which digital information is maintained, accessed and preserved. Incorporating standards of creation, storage and access, can aid in ensuring the protection of personal information in digital form consistently with the Access to Information Act and the Privacy Act (e.g., e–health initiatives), and can address security issues. Additionally, strategies and policies for the implementation and use of social media and Web 2.0 technologies must be rigorous to ensure security and accessibility of information created, stored and utilized in Web 2.0 environments and lay the foundation for the innovative use of these technologies. The development of innovative digital preservation strategies needs to be at the forefront of the Canadian digital economy strategy to ensure the long–term benefits of ICTs are fully realized. Support for the development and implementation of a digital preservation infrastructure must be integrated into the Canadian digital landscape at all levels to ensure accessibility and guard against obsolescence.

• What would a successful digital strategy look like for your firm or sector? What are the barriers to implementation?

A successful digital strategy would take into account the need to preserve the products of digital technologies and incorporate the knowledge gained through research that has highlighted the unique requirements of digital information and records to ensure that authentic and reliable information is preserved over time. Barriers to long–term digital preservation include insufficient education, awareness, training and funding and the lack of recognition on the part of governments and record creators that preservation is an ongoing need that cannot wait until the end of the lifecycle of a record but must instead be a consideration when the design of systems generating records is undertaken.

• Once copyright, anti–spam and data breach/privacy amendments are in place, are their other legislative or policy changes needed to deal with emerging issues?

Legislation and policy considerations must balance freedom of information and access to information against protection of individual privacy. Not easily legislated in the digital environment, model use of digital information must be guided by best practice guidelines and model government policies.

Legislation protecting privacy and security must address new and emerging technologies like Web 2.0 tools and cloud computing. Before privacy can even be addressed in the cloud, issues that are jurisdictional in nature must be addressed; these include, but are not limited to: who owns the data/records, who has access to them, and who is responsible for where and how they are preserved.

• How can Canada use its regulatory and policy regime to promote Canada as a favourable environment for e–commerce?

Trust in transactions that occur over the Internet is key to providing a favourable environment for e–commerce. Canadian regulations and policies that protect the authenticity and reliability of digital records over the long term will ensure the trustworthiness of records and provide an environment that is favourable to e–commerce.

A favourable e–commerce environment also depends on the ability of digital records to be admitted as evidence in the courts. It is a fact that digital records are increasingly common in both civil and criminal court cases. However, the complexity and variety of digital technologies and the often uncontrolled ways in which they are used makes it difficult to identify records within them and the business activities to which they are linked. Rapidly changing technology speeds up the obsolescence not only of earlier record–making processes, but also of the laws regulating admissibility of digital records.

In 1998, the Uniform Electronic Evidence Act was adopted as a model legislation that proposed reform of the traditional common law evidentiary requirements for proof of authentication and best evidence, on the grounds that, while these rules worked well enough for paper records, they could not deal adequately with electronic ones. Although the Act was incorporated into the Canada Evidence Act (sections 37.1–37.6) and has been adopted or has influenced provincial law, as the years go by and the implications of the pervasive use of digital technology (including electronic mail) for the Law of Evidence are better understood, the limitations of the Act have resulted in the courts' continuing reliance on traditional, narrow common law rules rather than broader new statutory rules. Courts have reached diverse conclusions about the interface between existing evidentiary provisions and the new ones introduced by the Act. Digital evidence is at this time admitted and given weight on the basis of law that governs traditional types of evidence but does not embrace the diverse and emerging consequences of digital evidence. The need to keep law current with technological changes, especially in the areas of evidence and procedure, cannot be satisfied by legislation issued at a single point in time, but requires continuous and sustained updating.

Building Digital Skills

• What do you see as the most critical challenges in skills development for a digital economy?

As businesses become more decentralized, it becomes each person's responsibility to have a basic understanding of the digital technologies upon which he or she relies. No one would question the responsibilities of records and information managers of large organizations to maintain recordkeeping systems that offer reliability, integrity, compliance, comprehensiveness and systematization to create and maintain records that have integrity and are authentic, reliable, useable and secure. Although large enterprises employ IT and Information Management departments to maintain and upgrade their digital technologies, keeping them secure, and keeping secure the data they generate, this responsibility falls upon the shoulders of the small business person, often with limited expertise and financial resources. Individuals in these situations need to acquire the skills to understand the consequences of digital technology on information security, privacy, authenticity, usability and preservation.

Improving Canada's Digital Advantage

• Should we set targets for our made–in–Canada digital strategy? And if so, what should those targets be?
• What should the timelines be to reach these targets?

We cannot afford to be short–sighted. If Canadian businesses, institutions and individuals are to have the skills needed to adopt and apply digital technologies with confidence, if they are to have trust in transactions that take place in the online marketplace, then they must understand the consequences of the use of digital technologies. Key aspects of the digital economy identified in the Consultation Paper are digital media, copyright issues, and requirements to ensure a secure online marketplace. These are immediate concerns. Long–range aspects of the digital economy include confidence that vital records of transactions can be found, accessed and relied on, that evidence of transactions can be preserved and its authenticity assured. We cannot wait to address the long–range aspects — research has shown that, to be effective, the management and preservation of digital records must begin at the time of creation and must be built into the technology. Records and information specialists trained in digital archival principles have an essential role to play in systems design. We must attend the issues of digital preservation and authenticity now, as we build Canada's digital economy strategy.

¹ The InterPARES 1 Project built on the findings of a previous research project, entitled The Preservation of the Integrity of Electronic Records, otherwise known as the UBC Project. Undertaken by researchers at the University of British Columbia from 1994 to 1997, the UBC Project was a collaboration with the United States Department of Defense, and aimed at establishing standards for creating reliable electronic records and maintaining their authenticity during their active and semi–active life. One of its products was DoD Standard 5015.2 for recordkeeping systems.

² The key findings of phase 1 are presented in a book entitled The Long–term Preservation of Authentic Electronic Records: Findings of the InterPARES Project.

³ The key findings of phase 2 are presented in a book entitled International Research on Permanent Authentic Records in Electronic Systems (InterPARES 2): Experiential, Interactive and Dynamic Records.

⁴ Organisation for Economic Co–operation and Development (2006), "Digital Broadband Content: Digital Content Strategies and Policies," OECD Digital Economy Papers, No. 119, OECD Publishing, page 6.

⁵ Ibid., page 30.

⁶ Ibid.