This document discusses the growing need for government agencies to archive their websites and social media pages. As agencies increase their online presence, they face challenges in complying with records retention laws. Web archiving provides a solution by creating snapshots of websites that can be accurately reproduced, searched and retrieved. The document examines legal implications like FOIA requests, litigation and using digital evidence in court. It recommends the PageFreezer solution, which employs powerful archiving tools, stores secure representations of content, and ensures digital records are defensible.

1. Website and Social Media Archiving:
A Growing Necessity for Government Agencies
Introduction
Shortly after taking office, President Obama issued an Open Government Directive and instructed
executive departments and agencies to “use innovative tools, methods, and systems to cooperate among
themselves, across all levels of Government.”1 This mandate, along with the growing interest in “Gov 2.0”
and “open government” among state and municipal agencies, has led to an unprecedented amount of
online data and an explosion of social media use by governments at all levels. Now, agencies are finding
it difficult to effectively manage and store their digital content in the face of existing records retention laws,
and new challenges relating to electronic information.
The legal implications of digital record-keeping extend across many government situations: e-discovery
proceedings, lawsuits, FOIA requests, audits, and investigations. Agencies at local, state, and federal
levels are accountable to various laws regarding the proper preservation of online communications. In
most cases, electronic records are subject to the same retention regulations as traditional ones. These
records are no longer limited to agency e-mails or websites, but cascade across blogs, wikis, RSS feeds,
and social networking sites. It is critical for governments to implement responsible policies for properly
preserving the ever-increasing amounts of online data.
This whitepaper examines the unique challenges associated with online communications and social
media for government agencies, and explains the role of web archiving in addressing those challenges.
This will assist you in understanding current web communications regulations, their implications for
governments, and the best practices for implementing solutions. We hope this document serves to inform
and empower your agency toward future success.
1
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Transparency_and_Open_Government/

2. Compliance Concerns
The issue of records retention for government agencies is an evolving one. At the federal level,
organizations like the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) and the Office of
Management and Budget (OMB) have provided some guidance documents and regulation regarding the
preservation of web records2, but the technologies are developing faster than the rules. Agencies at state
and municipal levels have developed their own versions of records retention requirements.3 At the heart
of all regulations is a common-sense directive: governments should take steps to make sure their
information is accessible and that important data can be located quickly when necessary.
“Effective records management . . . constitutes the backbone of the Administration's
Open Government Initiative. The Government cannot be open and accountable if it
does not preserve - and cannot find - its records.”
David S. Ferriero, Archivist of the United States
There are several federal statutes that relate, at least in part, to the preservation of government records.
The retention requirements relevant to these laws should now be interpreted as applicable to digital
content:
● Federal Records Act of 1950
● Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) of 1966
● E-Government Act of 2002
More recently, the House of Representatives passed HR 1387 (Electronic Records Preservation Act) to
encourage the implementation of strict records management policies. The legislation called for agencies
at the federal level to adopt systems to ensure the capture and preservation of digital records. The
resolution was not passed in the Senate, but the Act served as a step in the process of developing
regulations for the retention of electronic government records.
Regardless of specific retention laws, agencies often find themselves facing situations that necessitate
the preservation of web records. Some of these situations are outlined below. Governments would do
well to consider the direction digital information is headed: it will continue increase, and regulators will
begin to define additional requirements that will certainly involve the retention of government records on
all levels, including electronic information.
Consider how your agency would respond when faced with these common occurrences. As your online
content increases, will your IT team be empowered to provide specific records from particular dates in a
timely and complete manner?
FOIA Requests
Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and open records laws vary in scope and detail, but most municipal,
state, and federal agencies are required to produce government records to anyone that requests them,
2
http://www.usa.gov/webcontent/reqs_bestpractices/laws_regs/web_records.shtml
3
http://www.rcfp.org/ogg/index.php?function=browse

3. unless the document falls within an enumerated exception. Generally, FOIA regulations state that
governments may not withhold an entire document if it contains information that is not subject to
disclosure -- it must redact that information only, and produce a copy of the document.4
With the burgeoning amount of online communication and publication by governments, FOIA and open
records regulations have become complicated. The amount of electronic information has multiplied
exponentially, and agencies must implement new policies for dealing efficiently with requests for digital
records. Amendments to existing open records laws, like the Electronic Freedom of Information Act
Amendments of 1996,5 specifically declare governments to be responsible for making digital content
accessible to citizens.
Systematic preservation of government records, documents, and datasets -- with the ability to search and
retrieve if necessary -- is the key to compliance. Agencies that do not ensure the sustainability of their
web presence will find themselves reactively scrambling to comply with FOIA requests, while agencies
that preserve their digital records can respond in a timely and efficient manner. In cases where only part
of a document or dataset may be released, agencies that implement robust retention tools can more
easily modify their web records for public viewing. They can maintain an authentic archive of the original
while releasing the modified version to the requester, thereby complying with open records and retention
regulations.
Litigation
A few years ago, government agencies were only beginning to understand the importance of online
records retention. In June 2007 the U.S. Court of Federal Claims chastised the Justice Department and
the Army for failing to properly preserve electronic records, in the case of United Medical Supply
Company v. United States.6 United Medical claimed the Army had not adhered to the terms of a
procurement contract by ordering supplies from other vendors. When the Army Defense Supply Center’s
legal team sought e-mail messages relevant to the case, it was discovered they had been destroyed
according to routine. These electronic records were the government’s only line of defense. Their
destruction resulted in additional e-discovery costs and a censuring remark from the judge:
“Aside perhaps from perjury, no act serves to threaten the judicial process more than
the spoliation of evidence.”
Judge Francis Allegra, United Medical Supply v. United States
Government agencies at all levels must recognize the importance of records retention in case of litigation.
Now that electronic records have expanded to include complex web pages, social media communications,
and extensive online datasets, the ability to preserve and retrieve is more urgent than ever.
Digital Evidence in Court: Burden of Proof
If your agency already employs a retention strategy, it’s important to recognize that not all electronic
records are created equal. Suppose your agency did find itself facing legal action or e-discovery
proceedings. How would your web records hold up in court? It is critical for organizations to understand
how digital evidence is treated by law. Your website - and indeed, all online content - is transient by
nature. The Federal Rules of Evidence require proof that the data presented is authentic, and has not
4
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3720/is_200109/ai_n8957360/
5
http://www.justice.gov/oip/foia_updates/Vol_XVII_4/page2.htm
6
http://gcn.com/articles/2008/10/26/the-case-for-ediscovery.aspx

4. been manipulated, altered, or misrepresented.7 Without a defensible archive of a webpage, those
requirements are very difficult to meet.
For digital records to be accepted in court, you must be able to prove their authenticity and integrity. Data
authenticity verifies that the presented web content was indeed from your website and was online at a
specified date. Data integrity verifies that the presented web content is an exact representation of the
original and has not been changed over time. If you can’t prove the verifiability of your digital evidence, it
will likely be thrown out as in the pivotal case of Vinhee vs. American Express:
In 2003, Vee Vinhee owed American Express more than $40,000 on his two credit cards. He filed for
bankruptcy while American Express pressed charges, seeking settlements of the balance he owed.
During the course of the case proceedings, the credit card firm presented electronic records of Vinhee’s
monthly statements as evidence to the court. However, the court refused to accept these online records
as evidence because the firm could not prove authenticity of the records. AMEX appealed but lost the
case in the end.8
This was a trend-setting verdict for the emerging issue of electronic evidence in court. Subsequent cases
have upheld the same standards and continue to place the burden of proof on the submitter of the digital
files. These standards can be met by utilizing three key components: a certified atomic clock to establish
a legally-accepted time, a digital signature to establish data integrity, and a digital timestamp to establish
data authenticity. How can government agencies ensure that these components are present for all their
online activity? Through comprehensive, systematic archiving of their websites and social media pages.
7
http://www.law.cornell.edu/rules/fre/rules.htm#Rule901
8
http://www.financialadvisormagazine.com/component/content/article/1740.html?
magazineID=1&issue=84&Itemid=73

5. Social Media: Benefits and Risks
The explosion of social networking platforms like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube has not been
limited to the public sector. As governments have realized the value of real-time communication with
citizens, many have become active on some type of social network, often without establishing policies for
managing the information that is published by the agency. A recent report released by IBM’s Center for
the Business of Government concludes that, in general, governments have shown a “lack of standards for
records management” within social media.9
According to the report, 22 out of 24 major agencies are utilizing social media tools. The most popular
are RSS feeds, microblogs, social networking sites (like Twitter and Facebook), blogs, and video sharing.
These platforms hold vast potential for connecting citizens with their governments, but agencies must
recognize the regulatory risk involved with social media in the absence of proper records management
policies. The author of the report, Patricia C. Franks, notes that current regulations pose a problem for
managing records created using social media tools.
"New media brings with it new challenges -- especially for records managers
struggling to apply existing records management laws and regulations . . . in a social
media world."
Patricia C. Franks, Associate Professor,
School of Library and Information Science,
San Jose State University, CA
To remain compliant with existing regulations and to prepare for those that will inevitably be developed as
governments focus on creating new standards, agencies must act to ensure their social media activity is
preserved in a way that enables them to recover it if necessary. This is complicated because social
media tools involve complex web content, links, videos, third party posts, and more.
Would your agency be prepared with searchable records of past social media activity if it was required by
a regulator or for e-discovery situations? If not, your agency might face increased costs in both time and
money, or enforcement actions. The time to prepare is now.
9
https://docs.google.com/viewer?
a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=1gzmMWLydBCtu5YkAgVlpskw0WnKnP_kFuN6r3aaTT
ExdgTLV1ONS7EnYNv2d&hl=en

6. Web Archiving is the Solution
Obviously, a responsible plan for admissible records retention is critical for federal, state, and local
governments. Should it become necessary to access the history of your web presence, would you
confidently be able to produce non-refutable records from a specified date? How difficult would it be to
find the data in question? And most importantly, would you be able to view the content (including links,
rich media, feeds, etc) just as it appeared when it was created?
Server Back-Up
Some agencies believe their server backup policy is providing them with sufficient protection. However,
the web is built on rapidly evolving technologies, making it increasingly difficult to maintain a
comprehensive record of web history using back-up alone. In fact, for historical web pages to be valid,
organizations must continually back-up any databases (in addition to the other website components)
because the databases influence the site’s content, and are constantly changing. In addition, backups
are cumbersome (a continual manual process), expensive (because of excessive storage demands), and
inefficient (since they cannot be indexed or searched). Above all, most server back-ups simply do not
meet the standards for data integrity and authenticity that are required by the Federal Rules of Evidence
for use in court.
CMS Revision Control
What about Content Management Systems (CMS)? Many of these systems have “revision control” of
webpage content built into the application, enabling users to view versions of webpages from the past.
But this technology isn’t powerful enough to restore the pages in a comprehensive, defensible form.
Modern online content is dynamic and complex, often pulling data (such as Flash or AJAX content) from
outside the CMS’s database. A webpage reproduced through CMS revision history will not be truly
admissible unless the reproduced page bears a digital timestamp and signature. Needless to say, this is
not a viable option for agencies interested in a strong records retention policy.
Web Archiving
Archiving is the emerging solution to the problem of maintaining perfect historical web records. An
enduring web archive is created by capturing a digital snapshot of the web content, independent of
specific databases or technologies. That means the webpage can always be viewed in its original form
and deliver the same user experience, meeting regulation requirements for authentic copies. Archiving
guarantees your agency’s ability to exactly reproduce past online content, and to locate specific pages
using search technologies for web-analytics or e-discovery purposes.

7. The PageFreezer Solution
PageFreezer is pleased to offer a complete, SaaS-based archiving solution which provides for the specific
needs of government agencies -- daily automatic archiving of your website and social media pages,
perfect reproduction and replay of those archives, excellent search and retrieval functionality, and
compliance with regulations concerning records retention.
Implementing a web archiving policy requires considerable investigation and forethought, given the
various options now available in archiving technology. How will you know which archiving service is
covering all the bases? There are several key components to consider. The ideal archiving solution:
… employs a powerful content capture method.
In order to provide comprehensive archiving of even complex or hard-to-reach content, PageFreezer
utilizes archival crawlers (derived from search engine crawling technologies) and harvesters (for real-time
archiving) to capture pages. PageFreezer’s web crawl and harvest technologies are industry-strength
and work well in a wide range of circumstances and site / page designs.
… provides perfect representations of digital content.
Today’s websites employ all manner of technologies -- Javascript, Flash, Web 2.0, AJAX, and much more
-- making it difficult to secure archives that can be viewed as exact representations of the originals. Only
PageFreezer supports the capture of ALL complex web content (including Flash). The perfect copies are
stored unchanged, which is particularly important within a legal context.
… eliminates dependency on publishing software and databases.
The preservation and storage of digital content is best approached using the SaaS (software as a service)
model -- everything happens online, with nothing to install or configure. PageFreezer takes responsibility
for your archives and stores them for you, independent of specific technologies or databases.
… allows for powerful search functionality across all archived material.
Discovering and analyzing specific archives is simple within PageFreezer’s browser-based console, which
allows for detailed keyword searches and filtering commands across your entire archive or within specific
site / date combinations. Unique calendar and timeline features help agencies perceive how their
webpages have changed over time.
… guarantees secure archive storage.
Responsible handling of your agency’s sensitive data is of vital importance. PageFreezer stores your
archives on a fault-tolerant data cloud at our SAS70 Type II compliant data center, then mirrors the
information to a geographically remote second location as an added precaution. Archives will not be
changed or destroyed during the duration of your agency’s subscription.
… offers a variety of options for acquiring web content.
With archival crawlers browsing your website capturing everything within a defined scope, it’s essential to
set parameters that will keep the resulting archives relevant to your agency’s needs. With PageFreezer,
you can choose to archive entire websites, individual pages, specific URL paths, or even exclude key
words from the crawlers’ search. You also determine how often you want your site archived, preventing
redundancy and keeping your records pertinent.

8. … ensures defensible digital records.
In addition to providing a user-centric view of content in the original rendered form (as required for legal
use), PageFreezer places a 512-bit strong digital signature on each archived page, proving the content
has not been altered (data integrity). PageFreezer also provides each page with a digital timestamp,
synchronized with certified atomic clocks, to prove the content was online at a specified date (data
authenticity). These precautions guarantee the admissibility of your archived records.
… supports the Litigation Hold process.
In the case of legal action or e-discovery proceedings, PageFreezer provides prompt exports of archived
content. Within a few business days of your request, your legal counsel will receive a well-prepared
package including searchable PDF files and the native files with our digital timestamp and signature,
providing the defensible evidence required in court. Regular data export is also available, should you
need a local copy of your records for any reason.

9. Why PageFreezer?
Once your company has decided to implement a web archiving policy, it’s important to understand the
functional differences between various archiving services. PageFreezer is industry-leading in a number
of aspects and offers several unique functionalities. The following feature checklist is included for your
convenience in comparing archiving options.
Legal Support:
● 512-bit strong digital signature
● RFC 3136 -compliant timestamp
● Synched with certified atomic clocks
● Supports Legal Hold process
● Optional affidavit
Search Features:
● Full text search
● Search all content in snapshots
● Metadata search
● Boolean search
● Proximity search
Export Options:
● PDF with support for Search, Copy, and Paste
● Native Format

10. Conclusion
Web archiving is rapidly becoming the preferred method of records retention as governments seek
responsible, effective, compliant solutions for managing their increasing amounts of online content. You
can protect and empower your agency by bringing PageFreezer’s powerful technologies to work for you.
As the archiving industry grows and evolves, we are committed to continued innovation, ensuring that our
customers always have access to the most comprehensive, robust archiving technologies available.
To learn more about web archiving or find out how you can get started today, please contact us:
PageFreezer Customer Service
1.888.916.399
info@pagefreezer.com

11. About PageFreezer
PageFreezer.com provides government agencies and companies with a solution for website archiving,
regulatory compliance, e-discovery, and litigation support.
The service is available in two editions: On Demand or On Premises. For online service, with no software
installation or configuration, choose PageFreezer On Demand. Set up your account and begin archiving
within an hour.
If you prefer to keep your data private “in house,” choose PageFreezer On Premises. With this edition,
you can also archive your intranet and other internal websites.
PageFreezer is brought you by PageFreezer Software, Inc., a Vancouver-based company with 4 offices
worldwide in the USA, Canada and Europe.