The united states government and an optical-disc industry group want to know how long you'd like your digital media to last. Supposedly this has something to do with coming up with the requirements needed to be met to put some sort of logo on the media that will be sold. i.e. so that you can see a "certified to last longer than 30 years" logo on the next CD-R or DVD-Rs you buy.

When filing out the survery, the form asks you to "consider the issues of digital obsolescence and migration - Is 100 years (or 'forever') really practical for typical long-term digital storage strategies? While you may need to preserve data for a particular length of time, is it really necessary to preserve that data on any particular technology or can it be migrated to newer technologies?" which is why it asks you to justify your responce, if you choose a value greater than 40 years.

Two slashdot users have actually made a very good point as to why you might want a 100 year lifetime for digital media. NetDanzr writes "I'd like the media to last at least a few years after the copyright protection expires. Only that way we can legally guarantee that many great works don't disappear alltogether, as the copyright owners keep them in storage, and their media become unusable before enthusiasts can legally get and preserve them for the future. So currently, I'm looking for a roughly 100 years media lifetime." wings ads "If the archival media doesn't last longer than copyright, the material may never enter the public domain. We're already seeing this loss with film and books." I recommend that you take the survey, and bring up these two points. If you're feeling lazy, here's a blockquote for you to copy and paste from.

I'd like the media to last at least a few years after the copyright protection expires. Only that way we can legally guarantee that many great works don't disappear alltogether, as the copyright owners keep them in storage, and their media become unusable before enthusiasts can legally get and preserve them for the future. So currently, I'm looking for a roughly 100 years media lifetime. If the archival media doesn't last longer than copyright, the material may never enter the public domain. We're already seeing this loss with film and books.