Friday, March 24, 2023

The Internet Archive Is Under Attack.


AllTheWay
BackVille


Most of us, especially reader NVG, who use the Internet Archive use the Wayback Machine which allows you to fight link rot and figure out exactly what was originally uploaded to the tubes.

But the Archive is much more than that:

We began in 1996 by archiving the Internet itself, a medium that was just beginning to grow in use. Like newspapers, the content published on the web was ephemeral - but unlike newspapers, no one was saving it. Today we have 26+ years of web history accessible through the Wayback Machine and we work with 1,000+ library and other partners through our Archive-It program to identify important web pages.

As our web archive grew, so did our commitment to providing digital versions of other published works. Today our archive contains: 

Anyone with a free account can upload media to the Internet Archive. We work with thousands of partners globally to save copies of their work into special collections...


And now, as you might expect, the Archive is under attack from the Mr. Potters and Greedheads of the publishing world who just can't fathom why someone should be allowed to do something of value that they can't get their hands on for their own aggrandizement:

The Internet Archive, a nonprofit library in San Francisco, has grown into one of the most important cultural institutions of the modern age. What began in 1996 as an audacious attempt to archive and preserve the World Wide Web has grown into a vast library of books, musical recordings and television shows, all digitized and available online, with a mission to provide “universal access to all knowledge.”

Right now, we are at a pivotal stage in a copyright infringement lawsuit against the Internet Archive, still pending, brought by four of the biggest for-profit publishers in the world, who have been trying to shut down core programs of the archive since the start of the pandemic...


In other words, anything that is good, especially if it enhances the public good, and is free of the profit motive must be destroyed to ensure that we, the public, don't start to demand such good things, unfettered and greed-free.


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8 comments:

NVG said...


For Example:

The WaybackMachine on our host's site

http://pacificgazette.blogspot.com/

copy the link into the Machine and it generates :

https://web.archive.org/web/20230000000000*/http://pacificgazette.blogspot.com/

It goes all the way back to 2004 and up to 2023

The Machine will leave you wondering what RossK was writing about that was so special in 2012, April, because every day was crawled by it. The blue dots indicate the days that his blog was crawled. But Hey, we don't need no machine here because he has the BLOG ARCHIVEd 2012 April = 755 posts!!!! 82 just for the month of October. http://pacificgazette.blogspot.com/2012/

Big Bad BC Liberals, maybe

NVG said...

and if you are looking for some old software .....

DESCRIPTION
The Internet Archive Software Collection is the largest vintage and historical software library in the world, providing instant access to millions of programs, CD-ROM images, documentation and multimedia.

The collection includes a broad range of software related materials including shareware, freeware, video news releases about software titles, speed runs of actual software game play, previews and promos for software games, high-score and skill replays of various game genres, and the art of filmmaking with real-time computer game engines.

https://archive.org/details/software?tab=about

RossK said...

2012 was, indeed, an over-the-top year for this F-Troop list blog in terms of posts...

Two my proudest were from March, 2012:

1) Asking former BCL AG Geoff Plant a very pointed question about the implicit inducement that facilitated the BCRail case denouement.

and...

2) Mr. Plant's answer to said question and my (and Paul Willcocks') response.

Interestingly, the Mr. Plant's blog, where this back and forth took place, still exists. However, far more interestingly, in an eye brow raising sort of way, the specific post where the discussion took place is, surprise!, gone....Unfortunately, even the Wayback Machine did not archive the post and the associated comments/discussion...However, it is quite possible that long time BCPoli watcher Lew Edwardson just may have.

Regardless, now you've gone and done it NVG...Because I think I feel a post coming on.

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NVG said...

This might help you because it also includes Blog Archive links too

2012/03/saturday-morning-conversation-with.htm
s

https://web.archive.org/web/20120326183111/http://theplantrant.blogspot.com:80/2012/03/saturday-morning-conversation-with.html


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RossK said...

Not it NVG...The actual post which was Mr. Plant's 'Open Letter To John Van Dongen' re: the BC Rail deal that ended the legal proceedings, is gone as far as I can tell and doesn't appear to have been archived (this is the 'letter' that Lew has spoken of on more than one occasion).


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NVG said...



https://in-sights.ca/2022/04/26/the-faux-feathered-falcon/

By Norm Farrell on April 26, 2022

In fact, the written offer made in writing by the government for acceptance by the defendants and tying the waiver directly to the guilty pleas was very likely an illegal inducement. Here are former Attorney General Geoff Plant’s thoughts on the matter as expressed in an open letter to former Solicitor General John van Dongen:

“What is clear is that there was no legally binding deal. There couldn’t be. The waiver of recovery of fees was not and could not be an inducement to plead guilty. As a matter of law, they were not connected.”

Well, as a matter of fact they were connected.

RossK said...

Yup - that's Lew, guest blogging at Norm's place.


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e.a.f. said...

If there is no record, it didn't happen or so they will tell those inthe future who may want to know about the past.

Its why I always liked paper. If it isn't burnt, it lasts forever, as we see with some historical documents.