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The Internet Archive Is Building a Canadian Copy To Protect Itself From Trump (theverge.com)

Posted by msmash on from the backup dept.

The Internet Archive, a digital library nonprofit that preserves billions of webpages for the historical record, is building a backup archive in Canada after the election of Donald Trump. The Verge adds: Today, it began collecting donations for the Internet Archive of Canada, intended to create a copy of the archive outside the United States. "On November 9th in America, we woke up to a new administration promising radical change," writes founder Brewster Kahle. "It was a firm reminder that institutions like ours, built for the long-term, need to design for change. For us, it means keeping our cultural materials safe, private and perpetually accessible. It means preparing for a web that may face greater restrictions. It means serving patrons in a world in which government surveillance is not going away; indeed it looks like it will increase."

11 of 590 comments (clear)

  1. Valid by TFlan91 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    With Trumps position on libel laws, smart move to project against legal action.

    Still need to project against the ever-in-the-news cyber vulnerabilities. In today's world, physical location only goes so far.

    1. Re:Valid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I'm firm believer in backups, so Awesome!

      But where were these concerns about "government surveillance" not going away when Pres. Obama was expanding them rather than ending them like he promised in his first campaign.

    2. Re: Valid by amiga3D · · Score: 5, Informative

      He's elected president. Not dictator. He doesn't have the power to "scrub the web." Asinine people sensationalizing paranoia.

    3. Re:Valid by NatasRevol · · Score: 5, Insightful

      You sound a lot like the winner. Who's ranted against free speech, and freedom of the press. And that's just this week.

      --
      There are two types of people in the world: Those who crave closure
    4. Re: Valid by MouseR · · Score: 5, Insightful

      He's elected president. Not dictator.

      Someone needs to remind him during his discourses.

    5. Re: Valid by Verdatum · · Score: 5, Insightful
      Lincoln didn't have the power to suspend Habeas Corpus. Roosevelt didn't have the power to send American citizens of Japanese-decent to internment camps.

      Honestly, even if Trump wasn't elected, this is still a very good idea. The Internet Archive is one of the most important sources of information ever created. I think we should put a copy of it on every continent at the very least.

  2. Well then... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It means serving patrons in a world in which government surveillance is not going away; indeed it looks like it will increase.
     
    Why didn't they start this years ago when Obama extended and expanded the Patriot Act? Sounds like more leftist hypocrisy and hyperbole to me.

    1. Re:Well then... by butchersong · · Score: 5, Insightful

      It is simply a marketing tactic. Canada is not exactly an ideal spot to locate such a backup in any case given their hate speech legislation and tactic of slapping very heavy fines on people who might have offended one of an infinite number of gender pronoun protected groups.

    2. Re:Well then... by HornWumpus · · Score: 5, Interesting

      At least three backups, Iceland, Russia and China. Not that Russia and China are great, their data will likely have to be encrypted...but they are among the few that won't just take an American order and execute.

      Each should have a provision for marking part of its dataset 'edited by court order' (in the foreign copies, so out of the crooked courts reach).

      Canada's hate speech laws are awful, almost rival Muslim nations for 'worst practice'.

      --
      John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
  3. Who Will Protect the Internet Archive Itself? by Baldrson · · Score: 5, Interesting

    If you have a domain name under which you have a lot of content -- an example is kuro5hin.org -- and, after a decade or so you find yourself impoverished and stressed to the point that you can't renew the domain registration (as did Rusty Foster), a domain squatter jumps on it and holds it hostage for thousands of dollars. When that happens, frequently even "The Wayback Machine" is told to deep-six the archived content by the simple expedient of placing a robots.txt file in the home directory of the hijacked domain. "The Wayback Machine" then dutifully removes public access to the content. OH but the fun doesn't stop there! So now let's say you fork over the ransom money to the domain squatter, get the domain name back and remove the robots.txt. Of course "The Wayback Machine" then restores public access to all those articles... right?

    WRONG!

    archive.org does keep it stored and it is accessible to those with insider status, but no more public access EVER.

    There really is value in hoarding history and if you can get away with it by doing it "on accident" all the better!

    --
    Seastead this.
  4. Re:Only now? by Kierthos · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Considering that the orange idiot thinks that burning a U.S. flag merits prison time or loss of citizenship, I'd say it's a given that he has a low regard for constitutional rights.

    --
    Mr. Hu is not a ninja.