ARPA and Confidentiality in the Digital Age

Summary

This is an abstract from the "New Perspectives on Heritage Protection: Accomplishing Goals" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The Archeological Resources Protection Act (ARPA) and 54 U.S.C. 307103 (Title 54) exempt archeological site location data and other site information from the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The digital age, however, provides site looters with a new range of tools to discover archeological site locations on federal and tribal lands. At times, our own agency archives have inadvertently published archeological site reports on line, while a number of third party archives continue to make sensitive reports available. Maps from online sites such as Google Earth provide means for looters to locate sites from their home computers. Digital communication and social media sites such as chat rooms and Facebook allow looters to share location information and even encourage each other to loot sites during government shutdowns. Federal archeologists need a better understanding of digital media in order to remove inappropriate material from the web and more vigilantly monitor potential site looting activities.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• New Perspectives on Heritage Protection: Accomplishing Goals

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Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 23068