Massachusetts State Laws on Optical Images
State Archivist and Records Manager:
Archives & Records Mgmt. Director (Vacant)
220 Morrissey Blvd., Boston MA 02125
617-727-2816 fax: 617-727-8730
Kathryn Hammond Baker, Asst. Archivist
for Records Mgmt. & Acquisitions
hammondbaker@mecn.mass.edu
Anthony DeSantis, Director of Records Center
617-727-2470
adesantis@mecn.mass.edu
There is currently in Massachusetts no statutory or case law directly
addressing the admissability of optically recorded data in court.
Existing statutes which may have a bearing include c.66 (MGL) and c.4
s.7(26) (GLM) which govern public records and define records "all books,
papers, maps, photographs, recorded tapes, financial statements,
statistical tabulations, or other documentary materials or data,
regardless of physical form or characteristics..." Similarly the
Business Records Act (c.233 s.78 (GLM)(1992 ed.)), provides for "an
account kept in a book...or by any other system" provided the record is
made in good faith and in the regular course of business. C. 233 s.79
(GLM)(1992 ed.) constitutes the acceptance by the Commonwealth of the
Uniform Photographic Copies of Business and Public Records as Evidence
Act, may be subject to an interpretation thatoptical storage
"accurately reproduces the original" and therefore represents a legally
acceptable storage medium. Finally, the language of the Massachusetts
Rules of Civil Procedure provides that "any party may serve on any other
party a request to produce and permit the party making the request,...to
inspect and copy any designated documents (including writings, drawings,
graphs, charts, photographs, phono-records, and other data compilations
from which information can be obtained, translated, if necessary, by the
respondent into a reasonably useable form)..." (MRCP 34(a)) MCRP 44
allows for the admissability of copies of official records.
None of this speaks directly to the question of optical storage or, more
specifically, scanning, solely to the admissability of computer records
generally.
David Best
Massachusetts Archives (T) 617-727-4062
220 Morrissey Boulevard (F) 617-288-8429
Boston, MA 02125
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