The Living Archive recognizes that information entrusted to an institution carries responsibility.
The Archive therefore approaches the collection, use, retention, and protection of personal information according to a simple principle:
Information should be collected because it has a defined purpose, not simply because it can be collected.
Purpose and Proportionality
The Living Archive seeks to collect only information reasonably necessary for a defined function.
Personal information should not be accumulated merely for possible future use, unnecessary profiling, commercial convenience, or curiosity.
Where information is collected, its intended purpose should be understandable.
Information should not be used for a materially different purpose merely because that use is technically possible.
Data Minimization
The institution favors the minimum information necessary to provide a service or fulfill a legitimate institutional function.
This principle applies particularly to interactive experiences, assessments, memberships, inquiries, and other functions in which readers may voluntarily provide information about themselves.
Privacy by Design
Privacy should be considered when systems and experiences are designed, rather than added only after a problem arises.
Where practical, the Living Archive seeks to:
- minimize unnecessary collection;
- limit access to information;
- protect information against unauthorized disclosure;
- establish appropriate retention periods;
- separate information according to its purpose;
- avoid unnecessary linkage between otherwise separate activities;
- consider privacy and security implications before introducing new data-dependent features or services.
Personal and Reflective Information
Some information a person provides to the Living Archive may be deeply personal even when it is not formally classified as sensitive information under a particular law.
The institution therefore seeks to exercise additional care with information arising from reflective, diagnostic, developmental, or personally revealing experiences.
The purpose of such information should remain connected to the experience for which it was provided.
It should not quietly become a general-purpose source of behavioral profiling.
Information provided for reflection, assessment, or navigation should remain bounded by the purpose for which the person provided it.
Assessment and AI Data
Where an assessment or AI-assisted experience processes information about an individual, the institution seeks to maintain a clear boundary between information necessary to provide the experience and information that might be useful for unrelated analysis.
Information provided for one purpose should not automatically be repurposed for another merely because the system makes that technically possible.
Where AI providers or other external processors are involved, the institution seeks to understand what information is shared, why it is shared, and the conditions under which it is processed.
Retention
Information should not be retained indefinitely without purpose.
The Living Archive seeks to establish reasonable retention practices appropriate to the function, sensitivity, and legal requirements associated with the information.
Where information is no longer required for its defined purpose or a legitimate legal or institutional need, the institution seeks to delete, anonymize, or otherwise appropriately dispose of it.
User Rights
Where applicable law provides individuals with rights concerning their personal information, the Living Archive seeks to respect and facilitate those rights.
The institution also seeks to make its own practices understandable enough that people can make informed choices about what they provide.
Where applicable, people should have a reasonable means of asking what personal information is held about them, requesting correction or deletion, or withdrawing from uses for which they have provided consent.
International Context
The Living Archive is globally accessible, and personal information may therefore be encountered within different legal environments.
Where the institution intentionally processes personal information in a jurisdiction, it seeks to understand and meet the applicable requirements governing that activity.
The Archive does not assume that one jurisdiction’s rules automatically answer every international circumstance.
Where personal information crosses jurisdictional boundaries, the institution seeks to understand the applicable requirements governing that transfer and the protections that should accompany the information.
A Simple Standard
The practical standard is intentionally simple:
Collect less. Know why you are collecting it. Protect what you hold. Keep it only as long as there is a reason to keep it.
More specific procedures and jurisdictional requirements will be addressed as the Archive’s services, systems, and responsibilities develop.
Living Archive · Global Integrity & Standards
Part of the institutional standards of the Living Archive.
Living Archive · Life.Understood.