Now that we've reviewed the laws that affect how we manage any public record, let's talk about what makes electronic records special.
So what, exactly, is an electronic record?
An electronic record is a series of 1s and 0s that require computer hardware and software to interpret and present. Unlike information written on paper, or available on microfilm, electronic records are not human-readable. They require something – hardware and software – to translate those 1s and 0s into a language we can understand and see.
Because electronic records rely on technology to be accessible, they require active management if you plan on being able to read them more than five years from now. We'll talk about why technology is so "high maintenance" in a moment.
Just like public records in any other format, electronic records must be managed according to a records retention schedule.
If you have questions about how you should be managing any records, review your retention schedule to make sure you are following the guidelines your agency has agreed upon. Some records might need to be printed out, while others might be okay remaining in their electronic form.
Format matters! The correct formats must be noted in the retention schedule. If you are managing records differently from your retention schedule, talk to your CRO about possible changes and why you recommend them. Then the CRO can work with a records analyst in the Government Records Branch to update the retention schedule if needed.
Protecting confidential material can be even more complicated when electronic records are involved. When you get rid of your computer, for example, then you must make sure that all confidential material is removed from your hard drive. Just deleting it will not do it. Deleted does not mean it is erased. Computer forensics can recover "deleted" files from a computer. Now, ideally, this isn't something you will have to deal with, but do keep in mind that when deleting information you should make every effort to completely remove that information, even doing something as simple as emptying the Recycle Bin. More advanced tools are available, including software that "shreds" the hard drive to completely remove any information.
Perhaps it makes sense to keep your records with confidential material in a separate location, with stricter access restrictions – off the network, or just on one computer.
Electronic records with confidential information are also more tricky to share, because you must make sure you completely redact that confidential information. As mentioned when reviewing G.S. 132, the public must be able to access the records upon request. If you show someone records containing confidential material, then you must remove the confidential material before you give it to them.
Examples of failures in this area include one county in Virginia that posted public documents containing social security numbers and signatures on the internet. The county is now rescanning the documents without the SSN, but only for those who call and complain.
Accessibility in general is becoming more complicated. Marriage licenses online have dates of birth and mothers' maiden names (often used by credit card companies to verify a person's identity.) This information has always been available at the court house, but with the increase in identity thefts, people do not want their information so easily accessible.
One of the simplest mistakes to make when handling confidential information is to improperly redact information. In a case from several years ago involving a sniper in Washington, D.C., the Washington Post put a PDF version of the sniper's letter on their Web site that detailed the sniper's demand for money to be deposited into a stolen credit card account. Certain personally identifying details were blacked out in the PDF file. Anyone with the full commercial version of Adobe Acrobat (not the free Reader version) could easily remove the blacked-out part to reveal the text underneath. The best way to redact information like that is to black out the information in a PDF, Word document, or image file, and then save it again as a new file, in an image format like TIFF or JPEG. We'll talk more about these formats later.
Of course, if you're going to provide hard copies of the files, then you can black out the information on the electronic file and then print it out.
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Date last modified: October 29, 2008.
N.C. Department of Cultural Resources
Archives and Records | Government Records Branch
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