Internet Archive
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The "Internet Archive" (archive.org), located in the Presidio of San Francisco, was founded by Brewster Kahle in 1996 and is dedicated to maintaining an archive of the Internet. Their collections include:
- snapshots of the World Wide Web
- movies
- audio recordings, mostly of live concert recordings from bands that allow it (see Taper-friendly band)
- books
- software
The archive also maintains the Wayback Machine, with content donated by Alexa Internet. Once given a URL, this tool allows the user to see versions of the corresponding web page over time. Examples of the Wayback Machine's archives:
- Amazon (http://web.archive.org/web/%2A/www.amazon.com)
- Microsoft (http://web.archive.org/web/%2A/www.microsoft.com)
- BBC News (http://web.archive.org/web/%2A/news.bbc.co.uk)
- Google (http://web.archive.org/web/%2A/www.google.com)
- Open Directory (http://web.archive.org/web/%2A/dmoz.org)
- Wikipedia (http://web.archive.org/web/%2A/www.wikipedia.org)
The archive always waits six months before putting pages online.
The archive's total collection in 2003 was around 100 terabytes of data (with a growth rate of 12 TB per month). As of 2004 it had reached over a petabyte and was growing at the rate of 20 TB per month. This included over 40 billion web pages. A copy of the data is also maintained at Bibliotheca Alexandrina.
The name "Wayback Machine" is a reference to a Rocky and Bullwinkle Show cartoon serial. Mr. Peabody, a bowtie-endowed dog with a professorial air, and his assistant, a boy named "Sherman", use a time machine named the "Wayback Machine" to visit famous events in history, usually going awry for comic reasons.
Most of their movies, books, and recordings are public domain or licensed under a Creative Commons License. The audio section largely includes music from independent artists, as well as more established ones with permissive rules in regards to the recording of their concerts (e.g. The Grateful Dead, String Cheese Incident, Toad the Wet Sprocket, 311, Fugazi, etc.).
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Controversy involving the archive
Removal of Scientology sites
In late 2002, the Internet Archive removed various sites critical of Scientology from the Wayback Machine. The error message stated that this was in response to a "request by the site owner". However, it was later clarified that lawyers from the Church of Scientology had demanded the removal, on unknown legal grounds, and that the actual site owners did not want their material removed.
Movies in their archive
- D.O.A.
- Reefer Madness
- Sex Madness
- Hemp For Victory
- Gun Smoke Ranch
- The Feud Maker
- Machine Gun Mama
- Lying Lips
- Night of the Living Dead
- Dating Do's and Don'ts
- Duck and Cover
- Charade
- Two of the seven episodes of Why We Fight
See also
External links
- The Internet Archive (http://www.archive.org)
- Wayback Machine (http://web.archive.org)
References
- Scientology controversy
- CNET story (http://news.com.com/2100-1023-959236.html)
- Forum post at archive.org (http://www.archive.org/iathreads/post-view.php?id=778)
- LawMeme article (http://research.yale.edu/lawmeme/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=350).de:Internetarchiv