Verification of Publicly Accessible Legacy Websites

1. Purpose

This Technical Note establishes a standard procedure for verifying the continued public accessibility of legacy websites recorded in the Forgotten Web Exchange.

Verification is intended to determine whether a Digital Object remains accessible at its recorded network location and whether the accessible resource remains sufficiently representative of the object described by the Bureau catalogue.

Verification does not constitute preservation, authentication of all hosted material, or certification of continued technical integrity.

2. Scope

This procedure applies primarily to Digital Objects classified by the Bureau as active or potentially active legacy websites.

It may also be applied during:

• initial assessment of a candidate Digital Object;
• periodic review of an existing FWX record;
• preparation of a Field Report;
• investigation of a reported change in operational status; or
• reassessment following a period of network inaccessibility.

3. Verification Procedure

Verification should be conducted against the network location recorded in the relevant FWX entry.

The examiner should establish the following:

1. Network accessibility — the recorded location can be reached using contemporary network infrastructure.
2. Resource availability — the location returns a usable website or associated web resource rather than an unrelated error, holding page, or replacement service.
3. Object continuity — the accessible resource remains recognizably associated with the Digital Object described by the catalogue record.
4. Navigational viability — sufficient internal navigation remains functional to permit meaningful examination of the object.
5. Historical characteristics — significant visual, structural, or technical characteristics identified in the catalogue remain observable.

Failure of an individual component does not automatically establish loss of the Digital Object.

4. Redirects and Network Changes

A change in network location does not, by itself, constitute loss or replacement of a Digital Object.

Where the recorded location redirects to another address, the examiner should determine whether the destination represents a continuation of the same object.

Redirects resulting from infrastructure changes, domain consolidation, protocol migration, or routine hosting maintenance may be considered compatible with continued operational status.

A redirect to materially unrelated content should be recorded as a potential loss of continuity and referred for reassessment.

5. Determination of Status

Where the object remains publicly accessible and substantially representative of its recorded historical identity, its status may remain Active Legacy Site.

Temporary inaccessibility should not immediately result in reclassification.

Where continued accessibility cannot be established, the record should be retained and the object referred for subsequent verification. Repeated failure, confirmed removal, or substantial replacement may warrant a change in preservation status.

The Bureau should distinguish between:

Unavailable — accessibility could not be established during examination.

Removed — evidence indicates that the original resource has been intentionally withdrawn or deleted.

Replaced — the recorded location remains operational but no longer presents the catalogued Digital Object.

These conditions are not interchangeable.

6. Verification Record

Following successful examination, the catalogue record should identify the date on which accessibility was last verified.

The verification date records an observation made by the Bureau. It must not be interpreted as a guarantee that the object remained continuously accessible before or after that date.

Where significant changes are observed, those changes should be documented separately rather than represented solely by an updated verification date.

7. Preservation Considerations

Verification should ordinarily be observational.

Examination of an active legacy website does not authorize alteration, duplication, circumvention of access controls, or intervention in infrastructure operated by the object’s custodian.

Consistent with PB-000001 — Continued Accessibility of Active Legacy Websites, an operational historically significant website should ordinarily remain under in situ observation while its original public presence survives.

Field examination may be undertaken where the significance, condition, or continuity of an object requires more detailed documentation.

8. Current Application

At the date of publication, this procedure is applicable to the following public FWX records:

• FWX-000001 — The Million Dollar Homepage
• FWX-000002 — Space Jam Website

Application of this procedure to FWX-000002 is further documented in FR-000001 — Field Examination of the Space Jam Promotional Website.

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Prepared by A. V. Waymark
Office of Digital Preservation
Bureau of Digital Antiquities