You can't read the entire essay without a subscription but it addresses what the author, James Fallows, calls the Paradox of the Digital Age--it's easier than ever to store a lot of data, but harder to be sure it will be available later on.
Fallows reports on a visit with LOC, James Billington who tells him, "The best-preserved data tends to be on stone steles and cuneiform tablets." Fallows describes the The National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program and his interview with the LOC preservation team who tell him "in unison" that the safest way to preserve computer files is to:
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