Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
In.an.interesting.example.of.the.importance.of.maintaining.
the.integrity.of.electronic.documents,.the.U.S..Congress.was,.
at.the.time.of.this.writing,.considering.a.new.law.called.the.
Uniform.Electronic.Legal.Material.Act..This.would.encourage.
all.of.the.states.to.adopt.methods.of.authentication.for.any.
of. their. oficial. government. records.. In. an. article. from. the.
Library.of.Congress,
*
.it.is.noted.that.this.process.can.be.com-
plicated.and.expensive,.but.that.states.should.be.considering.
the.best.ways.to.accomplish.this.for.obvious.reasons.
Depending. on. the. sensitivity. of. the. documents. in. ques-
tion,. they. might. have. a. simple. mechanism. that. compares.
a.downloaded.document.to.an.original,.or.they.might.have.
something.more.complex.that.compares.hash.values.
All.of.this.will.require.states.and.other.government.entities.
that.come.under.the.purview.of.this.law.to.create.methods.
of. authentication. up. front. when. they. create. and. store. doc-
uments.. In. other. words,. each. new. oficial. document. will.
probably. need. to. have. a. hash. value. or. some. other. type. of.
authenticating.metadata.attached.to.it.that.can.be.referenced.
in.the.future.
Establishing.and.maintaining.the.ownership.and.integrity.
of.electronic.evidence.can.be.paramount.in.any.type.of.case..
It.is.always.going.to.be.an.important.role.that.an.organiza-
tion. should. create. policies. and. procedures. around. in. order.
to.ensure.they.have.the.means.to.prove.that.integrity..These.
procedures.should.include.the.following:
•. Careful.records.management.and.documentation
•. Log.management
•. Good.practices.around.the.handling.of.potential.elec-
tronic.evidence
Those. good. practices. will. require. an. organization. to. have.
policy. and. established. processes. for. litigation. holds. that.
*.
Library. of. Congress,. Butch. Lazorchak,. UELMA:. A. Law. We. All. Can. Love:.
http://blogs.loc.gov/digitalpreservation/2011/11/uelma-a-law-we-.all-.can-.
love/.?.doing_wp_cron..Retrieved.2011-07-09.
