Second URL should be: http://dx.doi.org/10.1890/1051-0761(1997)007%5B0330:NMFTES%5D2.0.CO;2
I made a diagram (derived from a diagram in an earlier publication) that presents this data (and metadata) loss really well: Research Data and Metadata at Risk: Degradation over Time as part of a paper I co-authored on this subject, Facilitating Data Sharing in the Behavioral Sciences.
...By creating a metrics-based standard, it is open to be used to measure innovation.
Creating a "standard" through the banning of a technology restricts innovation. And GE's announcement of high efficiency incandescent bulbs shows how short-sighted and misdirected implementation-based standards are.
This is very similar to how FLOSS software has been excluded from many governments and other organizations: the "standard" that is applied is one defined by a particular implementation, such as "must comply with Software X from Big Vendor Y", not a measurable metric or agreed-on open standard. With such fuzzy, incomplete or completely opaque "standards" -- often obfuscated by interested parties -- compliance is not possible and the standard itself is an impossible moving target...
"Buy land. They've stopped making it." -- Mark Twain