Trustworthy digital repository
We have created the first trustworthy digital repository (TDR) for personal data. A TDR is an organization set up to preserve digital data forever that satisfies a stringent list of requirements developed by the main governmental and research libraries in the world. Fortunately, one of our advisors co-wrote the report Trustworthy Repositories Audit & Certification: Criteria and Checklist (pdf).
The requirements for a TDR consist of hundreds of criteria. We are implementing these requirements thoroughly to comply with industry standards and thus ensure the safekeeping of your data. Our current infrastructure and policies include the following:
Technical
- Every story and file is instantly replicated to servers in two U.S. states.
- We perform separate daily, weekly and monthly backups of all data to servers in three dispersed locations in the U.S. and Ireland.
- All data are stored with redundancy on RAID-10 hard disk drives.
- Our servers check the accuracy and completeness of your data and files regularly, so that we can replace corrupt data with uncorrupted versions from backup copies.
- When current file formats become obsolete, we migrate all files with approved file formats to a new format, in order to keep them accessible in the long term.
Financial
- Most of your financial contribution is invested in an endowment fund, which is restricted to pay out only investment income, thus preserving the value of your contribution forever.
- As a result, you pay only once, and the investment income covers all costs of data preservation in the future.
- Our administrative expenses are very low, accounting for less than 0.5% of fund value annually.
Organizational
- As a non-profit corporation, the Foundation has an unlimited life and cannot go out of business.
- Our sole mission is to save your data forever, and all our assets are dedicated by law to exclusively serve our mission.
- Our staff and directors and advisors are well qualified to oversee the technical, financial and organizational aspects of a TDR.
As a result, your memories are protected for the long-term, and we guarantee your data forever.