Patent ID: 7814062

Claim:
A method, performed in a computer, the computer having a storage device that stores a set of digital assets, the method comprising: receiving a specification of a range of dates, the range of dates including a latest date, wherein receiving the specification of the range of dates includes obtaining (i) a first future date, the first future date being in the future and (ii) a second future date, the second future date being the latest date and being after the first future date, and wherein the first and second future dates define, as the range of dates, an archival time period; assigning to each digital asset an associated expiration date; enumerating all digital assets of the set of digital assets which have their associated expiration date falling within the specified range of dates, wherein enumerating includes flagging digital assets which are assigned expiration dates falling within the archival time period and not flagging digital assets which are not assigned expiration dates falling within the archival time period; storing the enumerated digital assets in an archive system, wherein storing the enumerated digital assets includes: copying the flagged digital assets to an archival storage medium of the archive system, all other digital assets which were not flagged not being copied to the archival storage medium; and encrypting, with an encryption key, each digital asset before copying that encrypted digital asset to the archival storage medium; preventing the enumerated digital assets from being accessed through the archive system after the latest date has transpired, wherein preventing the enumerated digital assets from being accessed includes: destroying the encryption key after the latest date has transpired; and instructing a user to destroy the archival storage medium; and restoring at least one enumerated digital asset from the archive system back to the storage device before the latest date has transpired.