The Internet Archive was created in 1980 by Brewster Calle, who wanted to “build a library of everything.” As a first step, Calais created WAIS (Wide Area Information Server), the Internet’s first distributed search system.
When establishing the archive in 1996, Calais’ ambitious goal was to provide “universal access to all knowledge.” Calle and his friends achieved remarkable success. The archive currently holds digital copies of 44 million books and texts, 15 million audio recordings, 10.6 million videos, 4.8 million images, 1 million software programs, and even a 1969 copy of Computerworld.
To this end, Calais is working on the Internet Archive and related projects, including the Wayback Machine, which allows users to view archived versions of more than 866 billion stored web pages, and the Open Libraries Project, which aims to create a web page for every published book. Made it.
The last project caused the archive to become embroiled in legal controversy. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Calais opened its libraries to allow free e-books to be borrowed through the Controlled Digital Lending (CDL) program. Publishers weren’t happy about this, and the Internet Archive lost a lawsuit against Hachette. The court ruled that the archive’s digital lending practices violated the publisher’s copyright and rejected the archive’s fair use defense.
This in itself is a big problem. The Internet Archive reported gross revenues of just $30.5 million in its most recent nonprofit tax filing. The funding is severely inadequate compared to the scale of work carried out by the Internet Archive.
But to make matters worse, the archive has recently been subject to a series of cyberattacks, with the first major incident involving two simultaneous attacks that occurred on October 9-10. Hackers exploited GitLab tokens to compromise the archive’s source code and steal user data from 31 million accounts. At the same time, pro-Palestinian group SN BlackMeta suffered a DDoS attack that temporarily took its site and Wayback Machine offline.
Black Meta said it carried out the attack because the site is owned by the United States, which supports Israel in the ongoing Palestinian-Israeli conflict. No, it’s not. The Internet Archive’s only cause is freedom of information, and it has no affiliation with the U.S. government.
In fact, it is true that it should be that way. I argue that the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) should track the open web, but that’s not the reality.
And on October 20th, the Internet Archive suffered another security breach. This time, the hackers exploited the API token of helpdesk support program Zendesk to access Archive’s support platform. The result was a mess. Many of the archive’s services, including the Wayback Machine, were suspended, and concerns were raised that some of the data stored in the archive may have been deleted or damaged.
Operators were able to restore the site, and a few days ago Calle told CBC Radio: “It’s so sad. “We are so fortunate that millions of people can now access the site again.”
But this peace did not last long. After that, problems arose again!
The world’s geopolitical problems will not change one bit if the Internet Archive goes down. No one is getting rich by ripping off Internet Archive users. There is no need to destroy the Internet Archive.
Archives are useful libraries. That’s it. In particular, the archive holds the only real records posted on the web. As more records and news are posted on the web and elsewhere, it becomes increasingly important for historians and others who want to know who said what to whom and when.
Archives should be preserved, not destroyed. It reminds me of the foolish protesters who tried to throw pumpkin soup at the Mona Lisa. They claimed the right to healthy and sustainable food regardless of art. And throwing pumpkin soup at the Mona Lisa didn’t change anything.
Likewise, vandalism is not helpful and only harmful to a politically neutral and useful website. The same goes for the Internet Archive.
editor@itworld.co.kr
Source: www.itworld.co.kr
