The likelihood and impact of these and other risks will vary from situation to

situation. However, one can assume that all of these risks must be addressed.

PRINCIPLES IN ADDRESSING THESE CHALLENGES

16.7 How much authenticity is needed?
Where digital materials have value as records that offer evidence of some kind,
authenticity is extremely important. Not all digital materials are made or selected to
provide evidence: for example, they may reflect creative expression, the debate of
ideas, or the desire to entertain and be entertained. Even for these materials
authenticity may be an issue, as the integrity of their creators work or ideas should be
protected.

Ultimately, preservation programmes must decide how much to invest in ensuring that
the authenticity of material in their care can be trusted, bearing in mind that object
identity and data integrity are fundamental responsibilities.

16.8 The role of data protection

Data protection must play a key role in any preservation programme, for two reasons:
So that there is a digital object for a user to access. This is a fundamental
requirement: if data is lost or seriously corrupted it may be impossible to re-
present the intended digital object at all, and the preservation process must be
judged to have failed
So that the integrity of the data can be maintained without tampering or
corruption in order for users to trust the authenticity of the re-presented object.

16.9 The role of documentation

Documentation also plays a key role, for two reasons:
By explaining the links between objects and by clearly distinguishing between
them, it provides evidence of identity
By showing what changes, if any, have taken place, with whose authority, and
to what effect, it provides an audit trail to attest to authenticity.

16.10 Responsibilities for maintaining authenticity

It may not be practical to expect an entirely objective guarantee of authenticity - there
may always be an element of trust or subjective judgment in deciding that authenticity
has been sufficiently proven however, it seems reasonable to expect that digital
preservation programmes would accept three responsibilities:
They must assess whether demonstrated authenticity is critical to the ongoing
value of the material
They must protect the material in their care from changes that would alter its

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