Do you ever think about what happens to websites or internet services that disappear? Researchers predict that of all the webpages that existed between 2013 and 2023, roughly 25% of them have vanished. The websites that have vanished might not ever be restored, but a non-profit organization called Internet Archive has committed itself to recovering lost data and storing digital data from the world wide web. Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine can recall millions of websites, movies, tv shows, music and songs, etc. Even content that isn’t accessible on the internet today, like the 1977 comedy series Fernwood 2 Night. This organization, comprised mostly of volunteers, is working tirelessly to act as a backdrop for the world’s data storage problem.
Internet Archive was founded back in 1996 in San Fransico by an internet pioneer named Brewster Kahl. They have challenged themselves with the most ambitious archiving project in history, gathering 866 billion webpages, 44 million books, 10.6 million movies and tv shows, and much more. A few other small volunteer groups are helping them on this ambitious journey to keep the world from digital oblivion, all while storing the data in only a few data centers worldwide.
Unfortunately, Internet Archive has had legal pushbacks involving copyright infringement and intellectual property. Recently, they were sued by four major book publishers for copyright infringement. They argued that Internet Archives’ practice of scanning physical books and lending out digital copies breaks US copyright law. They lost the case and appeal against the decision. At the present moment, Internet Archive is facing a 400-million-euro lawsuit that jeopardizes the non-profit’s survival.
Without hard working volunteers to help humanity store its history, it would be lost forever. Thousands of years and billions of pages of information gone by the waste side. This article reflects not only digital storage, but storage as well. Not everything can be stored digitally and not everything can be stored physically. This was a fascinating article because I not only use the Wayback Machine, but I have donated to the Internet Archive personally. Digital history will act as the fundamental backbone for the future of history and academia. Article: https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20240912-the-archivists-battling-to-save-the-internet
