[Air-L] Criteria for proving that online data (especially forum comments) are real?

[Maria Eronen]

Hi,

Would anyone know what are the criteria concerning internet material's  
validity? Is it common that you as a researcher will be asked to prove  
that the material you have collected from the internet is real. Since  
a lot of internet data disappears everyday, mere url addresses are not  
enough. Even html files can be modified after saving webpages.

I would appreciate if someone had time to answer.

Maria