Politically Sensitive Data
Digital content where the knowledge to preserve exists, and there is no threat to obsolescence, but where political interests may be served by elimination, falsification or concealment.
Examples
Online News; social media and web-based campaigning; social media relating to 2016 UK/EU referendum; Promises made in Scottish independence referendum 2014; US Environmental Data; UK Public Finance Initiative (PFI) documents; Recordings of Leinster House
Imminence
5/5
Immediate action necessary. Where detected, should be stabilized and reported as a matter of urgency.
Hazards
Opaque terms and conditions that facilitate deletion or obfuscation; lack of access to web-harvesting; significant lobby interest; change of administration; data resides in single jurisdiction; reputational risk to collecting institution; uncertainty over IPR or the presence of orphaned works
Sensitive DataMitigations
Robust political archives; robust preservation services for investigative journalists
Bit List History
Added to list: 2017Last Review
2023 Review
This entry was added in 2017 with additional comment and contextualization offered by the 2019 Jury. The 2019 Jury agreed that the nature and extent of political campaigning online continue to become more apparent, drawing attention to the manipulation of digital media but not explicitly the issue of deliberate deletion, alteration or concealment. They further noted that GDPR provides a pretext for the disposal of records, and that the increased capability of archives to secure the content from outgoing governments and ministers was a source of encouragement. Nonetheless, they pointed to a pressing need for a deep and comprehensive assessment of the risks faced by politically sensitive data and the impact which such deletions have on the public good. The 2020 Jury added a 2020 trend towards greater risk based on 2020 as a year of significant political and economic upheaval, in part because of the pandemic though also because of popular protest and the outcomes of elections around the world. Moreover it had been widely reported that senior officials in government have avoided scrutiny and record-keeping laws by using self-deleting messaging applications. The 2021 and 2022 reviews also identified trends towards greater risk based on the continuation and increase of significant political and economic upheaval. Moreover, they added how it had been widely reported that senior officials in government have avoided scrutiny and record-keeping laws by using self-deleting messaging applications. In those circumstances, politically sensitive records were likely to be at greater risk. The 2022 Taskforce agreed, and noted the significance of elimination, falsification or concealment in light of political upheaval, social and economic inequalities and climate change. The case of political upheaval and protest in Iran had further amplified the risks, and anonymous digital art and social media activism had burgeoned in response to gendered violence and acts of political repression in the latter half of the year. However, preservation infrastructures, such as national libraries and collecting archives within universities are conflicted, therefore unlikely, unable or unwilling to preserve content that is explicitly and radically critical of the regime. For those reasons there was a 2022 trend toward even greater risk.
The 2023 Council agreed with the Critically Endangered classification with overall risks remaining on the same basis as before (‘No change’ to trend). They also provided discussion and comments around GDPR abuses. GDPR can be abused for blocking access to public records and political data. The existence of ‘special category data’ under GDPR is used to justify denying access even to people’s own data. These justifications usually do not reflect the reality of how GDPR works at all, but it is used as a way to shut down these challenges.
2024 Interim Review
These risks remain on the same basis as before, with no significant trend towards even greater or reduced risk (‘No change’ to trend).
Additional Information
There is a question of whether it is the duty of archives/libraries to preserve the falsification but to instead preserve the constituent pieces to allow researchers to infer elimination, falsification or concealment.Case Studies & Examples
- World Wide Web Foundation, The Open Data Barometer, which provides a global measure of how governments are publishing and using open data for accountability, innovation and social impact, which looks at the 30 governments that have adopted the Open Data Charter and those that, as G20 members, have committed to G20 Anti-Corruption Open Data Principles. See The Open Data Barometer, World Wide Web Foundation [accessed at 2023-10-24].
- Undelete our government, Ovenden, R. (2020), Digital Preservation Coalition Blog [accessed at 2023-10-24].
- What’s up with using WhatsApp?, Mitcham, J. (2022), Digital Preservation Coalition Blog [accessed at 2023-10-24].
- Example of data rescue work by the Environmental Data & Governance Initiative (EDGI), initially formed in November 2016 to document and analyze changes to environmental governance that would transpire under the Trump Administration. EDGI subsequently became the preeminent watchdog group for material on federal environmental data issues on government websites, and a national leader in highlighting President Trump’s impacts such as declines in EPA enforcement. See Archiving Data, Environmental Data & Governance Initiative [accessed at 2023-10-24].
- A Framework Enabling the Preservation of Government Electronic Records, Johnston, L. and England, E. (2021), Digital Preservation Coalition Blog [accessed at 2023-10-24].