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National Archives Cuts Back On Web Site Archiving

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the i-remember-everything dept.

hhavensteincw writes "The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is coming under fire for a new policy to stop the "harvesting" of a digital snapshot of all federal agency and Congressional Web sites after every Presidential and Congressional term. NARA, which archived more than 75 million Web sites in 2004 after George Bush's first term ended, will not harvest agency and Congressional Web sites when his current term is over because it says agencies are supposed to be archiving Web content on their own. But NARA has been criticized by some for opting out of preserving these important historical archives on the Web."

4 of 45 comments (clear)

  1. interesting in consideration..... by 3seas · · Score: 3, Interesting

    ... the price of storage dropping as it has.

    So what is the real reason for this? Its certainly not cost.

    Is it possible that nobody is interested in the data?

    1. Re:interesting in consideration..... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

      Well, if you can tell me what part of a) opening up dialogue with pinko, commie China and b) getting OUT of Vietnam where Kennedy and Johnson (both "liberals," last time I checked) makes Nixon a "conservative," then please let me know.

      Frankly, I'd have thought the bastard would be more palatable to lefties than to the Buckley crowd -- then again, it may just be that the neocons have confused the definitions so much as to make them meaningless.

  2. Should we be surprised . . . by TXISDude · · Score: 2, Interesting

    It really should not come as a surprise that yet another federal agency has decided not to do its job, but only what it wants to do. . . The reality of the situation is simple, the web is becoming a major communications method for the government, and the content will be a lens into the history of the government's interaction with the people. I am actually afraid that this "ignoring the present" is not some form of conspiracy to prevent the recording of history, but more of a case of senior government officials not understanding the world as it is. Not recording the communications of the government to the people, in the form and context of how they were presented is a complete abdication of the responsibilities assigned to NARA and I hope that this story gets the US Congress to intervene and tell teh agency to do its job. Of course, I also hoped that Santa would bring me a new car, and the Easter bunny would bring golden eggs. So, I am ready for another disappointment.

    --
    Hope is the worst of evils, for it prolongs the torment of man. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
  3. doublespeak by osssmkatz · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Back when archives.org was archiving whitehouse.gov, we saw changes in speeches to match the current rationales etc. Is this why they don't want to archive?

    --Sam