Court Upholds U.S. Archivist
on Electronic Records Purge
An appellate court has ruled that federal agencies may purge records from computers after making copies of the original electronic documents.
The August 6 ruling by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia overturned a 1997 order by U.S. District Court Judge Paul L. Friedman instructing the National Archives to issue a plan for the retention or disposal of electronic records before erasing them permanently. Friedman’s order stemmed from a lawsuit by Public Citizen, the American Library Association, and other groups challenging a directive from National Archivist John Carlin authorizing all federal agencies to destroy electronic records if they retain a hard copy.
The Associated Press reported August 7 that the appellate court ruled Carlin’s directive did not violate the U.S. Records Disposal Act, which gave the archivist wide discretion to set standards and methods for disposing of records. The judges also dismissed the suit’s contention that Carlin’s action was “arbitrary and capricious.”
The AP said that Public Citizen has not decided whether to appeal the ruling.
Posted August 16, 1999.
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