Request
I would like to ask about the digital preservation in TNA.
1. Under what devices does the TNA store electronic records? Tape library Sun StorageTek SL3000?
2. What is the maximum capacity of such the library?
3. How much data, on a petabyte scale, is currently stored in the TNA digital archive?
4. Is the tape library room called Dark Archive or Robot Room? Why?
5. How many backups does TNA store digital data in?
6. How much data has been collected in the UK Government Web Archive?
7. How many unique users use the UKGWA per month?
Outcome
Some Information Provided
Response
1. Under what devices does the TNA store electronic records? Tape library Sun StorageTek SL3000?
Disclosing this specific information related to our hardware may reveal information that would prejudice the prevention or detection of crime and is exempt under section 31 (1) (a) of the FOI Act.
2. What is the maximum capacity of such the library?
Disclosing this specific information related to our hardware may reveal information that would prejudice the prevention or detection of crime and is exempt under section 31 (1) (a) of the FOI Act.
3. How much data, on a petabyte scale, is currently stored in the TNA digital archive?
At the time of this request, TNA’s digital archive currently holds c 2.2 PB (petabytes) of data for a single copy, across digital records and digitised (surrogate) copies of paper records.
4. Is the tape library room called Dark Archive or Robot Room? Why?
Disclosing this specific information related to our hardware may reveal information that would prejudice the prevention or detection of crime and is exempt under section 31 (1) (a) of the FOI Act.
5. How many backups does TNA store digital data in?
Disclosing this specific information related to our hardware may reveal information that would prejudice the prevention or detection of crime and is exempt under section 31 (1) (a) of the FOI Act.
6. How much data has been collected in the UK Government Web Archive?
The size of the collection is 379 TB. This includes the archived web content (337.3 TB) and the social media archive (41.7 TB) that together form the UK Government Web Archive.
In terms of number of digital objects, this is 8.2 billion for the archived web content and 5.7 million for the social media archive.
7. How many unique users use the UKGWA per month?
There was an average of 78,000 unique users per month between May, June and July 2023.
Explanatory annexe
Exemptions applied
Section 31: Law Enforcement
We are unable to provide you with information regarding hardware used by The National Archives because this information is exempt from disclosure under section 31(1)(a) of the FOI Act. Section 31(1) (a) exempts information if its disclosure would or would be likely to prejudice the prevention or detection of crime.
Section 31 is a qualified exemption and we are required to conduct a public interest test when applying any qualified exemption. This means that after it has been decided that the exemption is engaged, the public interest in releasing the information must be considered. If the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in withholding it then the exemption does not apply and the information must be released. In the FOI Act there is a presumption that information should be released unless there are compelling reasons to withhold it.
The public interest has now been concluded and the balance of the public interest has been found to fall in favour of withholding information covered by the section 31(1)(a) exemption. Considerations in favour of the release of the information included the principle that there is a public interest in transparency and accountability in disclosing information about government cyber security. However, release of this information would make The National Archives more vulnerable to crime. The crime in question here would be a malicious attack on The National Archives’ computer systems. As such release of this information would be seen to prejudice the prevention or detection of crime by making The National Archives’ computer system more vulnerable to hacking. There is an overwhelming public interest in keeping government computer systems secure which would be served by non-disclosure. This would outweigh any benefits of release. It has therefore been decided that the balance of the public interest lies clearly in favour of withholding the material on this occasion.
Further guidance on section 31 can be found here: https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/foi-eir-and-access-to-information/freedom-of-information-and-environmental-information-regulations/section-31-law-enforcement/