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Figuring out how to move projects like IA to a configuration where they are beyond the reach of the state, but still universally accessible, is one of the most
by jMyles 6y ago
Figuring out how to move projects like IA to a configuration where they are beyond the reach of the state, but still universally accessible, is one of the most important open issues of the internet today.
- ghaff 6y agoWhich also means they would be beyond the protection of a state and its laws. That doesn't strike me as an obviously preferable situation. Nothing that needs to be accessed via a network and requires human interaction is really truly beyond the reach of nation states. Just because you're on an offshore platform in the North Sea [1] doesn't mean you're not exposed to having your network and supply lines cut off at a minimum., [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principality_of_Sealand https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principality_of_Sealand
- aspenmayer 6y agoI don’t follow. Sites on IPFS are still copyrightable. They aren’t mutually exclusive concepts legally.
- pkaye 6y ago> The Archive has data centers in three Californian cities: San Francisco, Redwood City, and Richmond. To prevent losing the data in case of e.g. a natural disaster, the Archive attempts to create copies of (parts of) the collection at more distant locations, currently including the Bibliotheca Alexandrina[notes 5] in Egypt and a facility in Amsterdam.[8] The Archive is a member of the International Internet Preservation Consortium[9] and was officially designated as a library by the state of California in 2007.[notes 6] Maybe start with more funding to have copies in more countries.
- geofft 6y agoSince we'd be moving from legal protection to technical protection, would we also figure out some technical means whereby this would be accessible by Internet Archive only? Or would all of us be given a way to publish anything we want in a way that makes it accessible to the whole world but no government can impede? Would that then include sealed court records, intimate photos, performance reviews, credit card numbers, and so forth?
- generationP 6y agoWe have such havens already, and if the choice is between the Internet Archive plus everyone's naked pics or none of the two, I'd still vote for the former.
- marcinzm 6y agoPresumably you're not part of any group that could be abused, targeted or traumatized by such a system. For example, underage rape victims who have videos of their rape forever available to any pervert online. Along with their contact info since nothing helps with trauma like continual harassment about it. That, btw, was a true example from my social media feeds although the site in question was pornhub so there was some recourse.
- geofft 6y agoAnd I'd vote for the latter - but since we're talking about moving things beyond the reach of any government, it's not like I'm actually able to vote on it, am I?
- mulmen 6y ago“What you post on the web lasts forever” is a warning, not a promise.
- mellosouls 6y agoNot necessarily - an alternative approach is that "public service" projects like IA are supported by the state - but this will only happen when they are scrupulous with respect to the law. This happens already in the US and other countries with various digital preservation initiatives that have legal mandates for their missions.
- userbinator 6y agoSciHub/LibGen might be a good start. (...which, if this announcement is any indication, should probably be mirroring the IA if they haven't already done so. I believe they used to avoid that, under the assumption that the IA would always be accessible, but maybe not now.)
- fsflover 6y agoI2P can be the solution here. It has been working for years, although slow by design.