Encryption may be archivists' next big problem, Brinkema said. Worries about privacy are driving Internet users toward encryption. But the same sophisticated encoding that will keep electronic messages private will make them impossible for archivists to read. Decryption keys will have to be preserved with encrypted documents to make them readable. But authors who bothered to encrypt documents for privacy purposes in the first place may be reluctant to provide keys that would let the public decode them, he said.
Sheer volume is another problem confronting archivists of electronic documents.
The aim of the U.S. Courts is to develop an archive of 30 years' worth of electronic documents. Archivists dealing with electronic documents will have to consider what has heretofore been considered heresy - destroying documents, Brinkema said.