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{{Short description|Digital archive by the Internet Archive}} {{For|the time machine from Peabody's Improbable History and its namesake|Wayback Machine (Peabody's Improbable History)}} {{For|help citing the Wayback Machine in Wikipedia|Help:Using the Wayback Machine}} {{Use mdy dates|date=October 2024}} {{Infobox website | name = Wayback Machine | logo = Wayback Machine logo 2010.svg | logo_size = | logo_alt = Stylized text saying: "INTERNET ARCHIVE WAYBACK MACHINE". The text is in black, except for "WAYBACK", which is in red. | url = {{Plainlist| * {{URL|https://web.archive.org}} }} | type = Archive | commercial = No | registration = Optional | programming_language = [[HTML]], [[CSS]], [[JavaScript]], [[Java (programming language)|Java]], [[Python (programming language)|Python]] | area_served = Worldwide ([[Internet censorship in China|except China]], [[Internet censorship in India|India]]{{efn|Although it is formally blocked, enforcement is not consistent and depends on the region.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theverge.com/2017/8/9/16117578/wayback-machine-blocked-india-internet-archive|title=Wayback Machine has been blocked in India|first=Thuy|last=Ong|date=August 9, 2017|website=[[The Verge]]}}</ref>}}, and [[Internet censorship in Bahrain|Bahrain]]) | owner = [[Internet Archive]] | founded = {{ubl|{{start date and age|1995|05|8}} (private)|{{start date and age|2001|10|24}} (public)}} | current_status = Active <!-- Do not change status unless the outage is multiple days long. isitdownrightnow.com is useful to track short duration outages. We are an encyclopedia, not a website health check with minute to minute updates. --> }} The '''Wayback Machine''' is a digital archive of the [[World Wide Web]] founded by [[Internet Archive]], an [[501(c)(3) organization|American nonprofit organization]] based in [[San Francisco]], [[California]]. Pages have been saved in at least 1995, and the service was launched for public access in 2001. It allows users to go "back in time" to see how websites looked in the past. Founders [[Brewster Kahle]] and [[Bruce Gilliat]] developed the Wayback Machine to provide "universal access to all knowledge" by preserving archived copies of defunct web pages.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Kahle |first=Brewster |date=November 23, 2005 |title=Universal Access to all Knowledge |url=https://archive.org/details/SDForumBK |archive-date=August 14, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220814164546/https://archive.org/details/SDForumBK |access-date=June 5, 2022 |website=[[Internet Archive]]}}</ref> The Wayback Machine had saved more than 38.2 billion web pages by the end of 2009. As of November 2024, the Wayback Machine has archived more than 916 billion web pages and well over 100 [[petabytes]] of data.<ref name="Homepage">{{Cite web |date= |title=Internet Archive: Wayback Machine |url=https://web.archive.org/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230313021854/https://archive.org/web/ |archive-date=March 13, 2023 |access-date= |website=web.archive.org}} The current number of archived pages can be seen at the archive's [https://web.archive.org/ home page].</ref><ref name="Kahle">{{cite web |last1=Kahle |first1=Brewster |title=A Message from Internet Archive Founder, Brewster Kahle |url=https://archive.org/donate |website=Internet Archive |access-date=January 10, 2024}}</ref> ==History== The Internet Archive has been archiving [[Cache (computing)|cached]] web pages since at least 1995. One of the earliest known pages was archived on May 8, 1995.<ref>{{cite web<!-- NOTE: reference and work is to the Wayback snapshot -->|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19950508213132/http://www.ci.eugene.or.us:80/Library/libhours.htm|title=Eugene Public Library Hours|work=[[Internet Archive]]/Wayback Machine|archive-date=May 8, 1995}}{{cbignore}}</ref> Internet Archive founders [[Brewster Kahle]] and [[Bruce Gilliat]] launched the Wayback Machine in [[San Francisco]], [[California]],<ref>{{Cite web |title=Wayback Machine General Information |url=https://help.archive.org/hc/en-us/articles/360004716091-Wayback-Machine-General-Information |access-date=March 2, 2021 |website=Internet Archive |archive-url=https://archive.today/20191205053755/https://help.archive.org/hc/en-us/articles/360004716091-Wayback-Machine-General-Information |archive-date=December 5, 2019}}</ref> in October 2001,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://whois.domaintools.com/waybackmachine.org |title=WayBackMachine.org WHOIS, DNS, & Domain Info – DomainTools |work=[[WHOIS]] |access-date=March 13, 2016 |archive-date=May 14, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200514175402/http://whois.domaintools.com/waybackmachine.org |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://whois.domaintools.com/internetarchive.org|title=InternetArchive.org WHOIS, DNS, & Domain Info – DomainTools|work=[[WHOIS]]|access-date=March 13, 2016|archive-date=May 12, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200512114745/http://whois.domaintools.com/internetarchive.org|url-status=live}}</ref> primarily to address the problem of web content vanishing whenever it gets changed or when a website is shut down.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Notess |first=Greg R. |date=March–April 2002 |title=The Wayback Machine: The Web's Archive |journal=Online |volume=26 |pages=59–61 |id={{INIST|13517724}} }}</ref> The service enables users to see archived versions of [[web page]]s across time, which the archive calls a "three-dimensional index".<ref>{{citation |title=Frequently Asked Questions|chapter-url=https://archive.org/about/faqs.php#The_Wayback_Machine |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180918131957/https://archive.org/about/faqs.php#The_Wayback_Machine |url-status=live |chapter=The Wayback Machine |access-date=September 18, 2018 |archive-date=September 18, 2018}}</ref> Kahle and Gilliat created the machine hoping to archive the entire Internet and provide "universal access to all knowledge".<ref name="Internet Archive Blogs">{{Cite web |url=https://blog.archive.org/2016/10/25/20000-hard-drives-on-a-mission/ |title=20,000 Hard Drives on a Mission |website=Internet Archive Blogs |date=October 25, 2016 |access-date=October 15, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181020153727/https://blog.archive.org/2016/10/25/20000-hard-drives-on-a-mission/ |archive-date=October 20, 2018 |url-status=live }}</ref> The name "Wayback Machine" is a reference to a fictional time-traveling device in the animated cartoon ''[[The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends]]'' from the 1960s.<ref>{{Cite magazine |url=http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/feb2002/tc20020228_1080.htm |title=A Library as Big as the World |last=Green |first=Heather |date=February 28, 2002 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111220074306/http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/feb2002/tc20020228_1080.htm |archive-date=December 20, 2011 |magazine=BusinessWeek}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url= https://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/08/business/responsible-party-brewster-kahle-a-library-of-the-web-on-the-web.html |title=Responsible Party – Brewster Kahle; A Library Of the Web, On the Web |last=Tong |first=Judy |date=September 8, 2002 |work=[[The New York Times]] |access-date= August 15, 2011 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110220181725/http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/08/business/responsible-party-brewster-kahle-a-library-of-the-web-on-the-web.html |archive-date=February 20, 2011 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>[[Keith Scott (voice actor)|Keith Scott]] (2000). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=qdwcbJxM-HsC The Moose that Roared: The Story of Jay Ward, Bill Scott, a Flying Squirrel, and a Talking Moose]''. [[St. Martin's Press]]. {{ISBN|0-312-19922-8}}</ref> In a segment of the cartoon entitled "Peabody's Improbable History", the characters [[Mister Peabody]] and Sherman use the "[[Wayback Machine (Peabody's Improbable History)|Wayback Machine]]" to travel back in time to witness and participate in famous historical events.<ref name="Markstein">{{cite web | last = Markstein | first = Don | authorlink = | title = Toonopedia: "Peabody's Improbable History" | publisher = Toonpedia.com| date = | url = http://www.toonopedia.com/peabody.htm | doi = | accessdate = 2024-11-07 }}</ref> From 1996 to 2001, the information was kept on digital tape, with Kahle occasionally allowing researchers and scientists to tap into the "clunky" [[database]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Cook |first=John |title=Web site takes you way back in Internet history |url=http://www.seattlepi.com/news/article/Web-site-takes-you-way-back-in-Internet-history-1070534.php |access-date=August 15, 2011 |work=Seattle Post-Intelligencer |date=November 1, 2001 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140812205508/http://www.seattlepi.com/news/article/Web-site-takes-you-way-back-in-Internet-history-1070534.php |archive-date=August 12, 2014}}</ref> When the archive reached its fifth anniversary in 2001, it was unveiled and opened to the public in a ceremony at the [[University of California, Berkeley]].<ref>{{Cite magazine |url=https://www.wired.com/2001/10/wayback-goes-way-back-on-web/ |title=Wayback Goes Way Back on Web |magazine=Wired |date=October 28, 2001 |access-date=October 16, 2017 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171016225914/https://www.wired.com/2001/10/wayback-goes-way-back-on-web/ |archive-date=October 16, 2017 |last1=Mayfield |first1=Kendra }}</ref> By the time the Wayback Machine launched, it already contained over 10 billion archived pages.<ref name="Arora" /> The data is stored on the Internet Archive's large cluster of [[Linux]] nodes.<ref name="Internet Archive Blogs" /> It revisits and archives new versions of websites on occasion (see technical details below).<ref name="Leetaru" /> Sites can also be captured manually by entering a website's [[URL]] into the search box, provided that the website allows the Wayback Machine to "[[Web crawler|crawl]]" it and save the data.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://archive.org/web/ |title=Internet Archive: Wayback Machine |website=Internet Archive |access-date=October 15, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140103004344/https://archive.org/web/ |archive-date=January 3, 2014 |url-status=live }}</ref> On October 30, 2020, the Wayback Machine began fact-checking content.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Graham |first=Mark |date=October 30, 2020 |title=Fact Checks and Context for Wayback Machine Pages |url= http://blog.archive.org/2020/10/30/fact-checks-and-context-for-wayback-machine-pages/ |access-date=January 17, 2021 |website=Internet Archive Blogs}}</ref> As of January 2022, domains of [[ad server]]s are disabled from capturing.<ref>Attempts to 'save page now' domains such as tpc.googlesyndication.com or s0.2mdn.net or atdmt.com or adbrite.com result in "This URL is in our block list and cannot be captured."</ref> In May 2021, for Internet Archive's 25th anniversary, the Wayback Machine introduced the "Wayforward Machine" which allows users to "travel to the Internet in 2046, where knowledge is under [[siege]]".<ref>{{Cite web|title=Internet Archive 25th Anniversary – Universal Access to All Knowledge|url=https://anniversary.archive.org/|access-date=January 13, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Wayforward Machine • Visit the future of the internet|url=https://wayforward.archive.org/|access-date=January 13, 2022|website=Way Forward Machine}}</ref> == Technical information == The Wayback Machine's software has been developed to "[[Web crawler|crawl]]" the Web and download all publicly accessible information and data files on webpages, the [[Gopher (protocol)|Gopher]] hierarchy, the [[Usenet|Netnews]] (Usenet) bulletin board system, and software.<ref>{{cite web |last=Kahle |first=Brewster |title=Archiving the Internet |url=http://www.uibk.ac.at/voeb/texte/kahle.html |publisher=Scientific American – March 1997 Issue |access-date=August 19, 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120403042627/http://www.uibk.ac.at/voeb/texte/kahle.html |archive-date=April 3, 2012}}</ref> The information collected by these "crawlers" does not include all the information available on the Internet, since much of the data is restricted by the publisher or stored in databases that are not accessible. To overcome inconsistencies in partially cached websites, Archive-It.org was developed in 2005 by the Internet Archive as a means of allowing institutions and content creators to voluntarily harvest and preserve collections of digital content, and create digital archives.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://blog.archive.org/2014/10/27/archive-it-crawling-the-web-together/ |title=Archive-It: Crawling the Web Together |work=Internet Archive Blogs |first=Jeff |last=Kaplan |date=October 27, 2014 |access-date=October 16, 2017 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171012212827/http://blog.archive.org/2014/10/27/archive-it-crawling-the-web-together/ |archive-date=October 12, 2017 }}</ref> Crawls are contributed from various sources, some imported from third parties and others generated internally by the Archive.<ref name="Leetaru"/> For example, crawls are contributed by the [[Alfred P. Sloan Foundation|Sloan Foundation]] and [[Alexa Internet|Alexa]], crawls run by Internet Archive on behalf of [[National Archives and Records Administration|NARA]] and the [[Internet Memory Foundation]], mirrors of [[Common Crawl]].<ref name="Leetaru"/> The "Worldwide Web Crawls" have been running since 2010 and capture the global Web.<ref name="Leetaru"/><ref name="Crawls">{{cite web |url=https://archive.org/details/widecrawl&tab=about |title=Worldwide Web Crawls |publisher=Internet Archive |access-date=October 16, 2017 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171019222740/https://archive.org/details/widecrawl%26tab%3Dabout |archive-date=October 19, 2017 }}</ref> In September 2020, the Internet Archive announced a partnership with [[Cloudflare]] – an American [[content delivery network]] service provider – to automatically index websites served via its "Always Online" services.<ref name="archive-partners"/> Documents and resources are stored with time stamp URLs such as <code>{{#time:YmdHis}}</code>. Pages' individual resources such as images and style sheets and scripts, as well as outgoing [[hyperlinks]], are linked to with the time stamp of the currently viewed page, so they are redirected automatically to their individual captures that are the closest in time.<ref name="Using">{{cite web |url=https://help.archive.org/help/using-the-wayback-machine/ |title=Using The Wayback Machine |website=Internet Archive |access-date=September 25, 2024}}</ref> The frequency of snapshot captures varies per website.<ref name="Leetaru"/> Websites in the "Worldwide Web Crawls" are included in a "crawl list", with the site archived once per crawl.<ref name="Leetaru"/> A crawl can take months or even years to complete, depending on size.<ref name="Leetaru"/> For example, "Wide Crawl Number 13" started on January 9, 2015, and completed on July 11, 2016.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://archive.org/details/wide00013?&sort=-publicdate&page=3 |title=Wide Crawl Number 13 |publisher=Internet Archive |access-date=October 16, 2017 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171019223332/https://archive.org/details/wide00013?&sort=-publicdate&page=3 |archive-date=October 19, 2017 }}</ref> However, there may be multiple crawls ongoing at any one time, and a site might be included in more than one crawl list, so how often a site is crawled varies widely.<ref name="Leetaru">{{cite web |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/kalevleetaru/2016/01/18/the-internet-archive-turns-20-a-behind-the-scenes-look-at-archiving-the-web/#222f2e5682e0 |url-access=subscription |title=The Internet Archive Turns 20: A Behind the Scenes Look at Archiving the Web |work=Forbes |first=Kalev |last=Leetaru |date=January 28, 2016 |access-date=October 16, 2017 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171016230439/https://www.forbes.com/sites/kalevleetaru/2016/01/18/the-internet-archive-turns-20-a-behind-the-scenes-look-at-archiving-the-web/#222f2e5682e0 |archive-date=October 16, 2017 }}{{cbignore}}</ref> A "Save Page Now" archiving feature was made available in October 2013,<ref name="savepage">{{cite web |author=Rossi, Alexis |date=October 25, 2013 |title=Fixing Broken Links on the Internet |url=https://blog.archive.org/2013/10/25/fixing-broken-links/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141107193437/http://blog.archive.org/2013/10/25/fixing-broken-links/ |archive-date=November 7, 2014 |access-date=December 29, 2013 |publisher=Internet Archive}}</ref> accessible on the lower right of the Wayback Machine's main page.<ref>{{cite web |title=Wayback Machine main page |url=https://archive.org/web/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140103004344/https://archive.org/web/ |archive-date=January 3, 2014 |access-date=December 30, 2013 |publisher=Internet Archive}}</ref> Once a target URL is entered and saved, the web page will become part of the Wayback Machine.<ref name="savepage" /> Through the Internet address web.archive.org,<ref>{{cite web |title=Web.archive.org directory |url=https://web.archive.org |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120103040016/https://web.archive.org/ |archive-date=January 3, 2012 |access-date=March 2, 2014}}</ref> users can upload to the Wayback Machine a large variety of contents, including [[PDF]] and [[data compression]] file formats. The Wayback Machine creates a permanent local URL of the upload content, that is accessible in the web, even if not listed while searching in the <nowiki>https://archive.org</nowiki> official website.{{jargon inline|date=October 2024}} Starting in October 2019, users were [[data cap|limited]] to 15 archival requests and retrievals per minute.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://archive.org/details/toomanyrequests_20191110 |title=Too Many Requests |publisher=Internet Archive |date=November 10, 2019 |access-date=November 27, 2021}}</ref> ===Storage capacity and growth=== As technology has developed over the years, the storage capacity of the Wayback Machine has grown. In 2003, after only two years of public access, the Wayback Machine was growing at a rate of 12 terabytes per month. The data is stored on [[PetaBox]] rack systems custom designed by Internet Archive staff. The first 100TB rack became fully operational in June 2004, although it soon became clear that they would need much more storage than that.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://archive.org/web/petabox.php |title= Petabox |website=Internet Archive |access-date=October 25, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9584_22-5808754.html |title=Big storage on the cheap |last=Kanellos |first=Michael |date=July 29, 2005 |access-date=July 29, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070403030705/http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9584_22-5808754.html <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archive-date=April 3, 2007 |publisher=CNET News}}</ref> The Internet Archive migrated its customized storage architecture to [[Sun Open Storage]] in 2009, and hosts a new data centre in a [[Sun Modular Datacenter]] on [[Sun Microsystems]]' California campus.<ref>{{cite web |title=Internet Archive and Sun Microsystems Create Living History of the Internet |publisher=[[Sun Microsystems]] |date=March 25, 2009 |url=http://www.sun.com/aboutsun/pr/2009-03/sunflash.20090325.1.xml |access-date=March 27, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090326200212/http://www.sun.com/aboutsun/pr/2009-03/sunflash.20090325.1.xml |archive-date=March 26, 2009}}</ref> {{As of|2009}}, the Wayback Machine contained approximately three [[petabyte]]s of data and was growing at a rate of 100 [[terabyte]]s each month.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&taxonomyName=hardware&articleId=9130081&taxonomyId=12&intsrc=kc_top |title=Internet Archive to unveil massive Wayback Machine data center |last=Mearian |first=Lucas |date=March 19, 2009 |access-date=March 22, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090323093002/http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&taxonomyName=hardware&articleId=9130081&taxonomyId=12&intsrc=kc_top |archive-date=March 23, 2009 |publisher=Computerworld}}</ref> A new, improved version of the Wayback Machine, with an updated interface and a fresher index of archived content, was made available for public testing in 2011, where captures appear in a calendar layout with circles whose width visualizes the number of crawls each day, but no marking of duplicates with asterisks or an advanced search page.<ref>{{cite web |title=Updated Wayback Machine in Beta Testing |url=http://iawebarchiving.wordpress.com/2011/01/24/updated-wayback-machine-in-beta-testing/ |author=gojomo |date=January 24, 2011 |access-date=August 19, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110823040310/http://iawebarchiving.wordpress.com/2011/01/24/updated-wayback-machine-in-beta-testing/ |archive-date=August 23, 2011 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Advanced Search |url=https://web.archive.org/collections/web/advanced.html |website=Wayback Machine |access-date=April 3, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100131104918/https://web.archive.org/collections/web/advanced.html |archive-date=January 31, 2010}}</ref> A top [[toolbar]] was added to facilitate navigating between captures. A bar chart visualizes the frequency of captures per month over the years.<ref>{{cite web |title=What's the difference between the classic Wayback Machine and the new Beta version? |url=http://faq.waybackmachine.org/whats-the-difference-between-the-classic-wayback-machine-and-the-new-beta-version |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101225023945/http://faq.waybackmachine.org/whats-the-difference-between-the-classic-wayback-machine-and-the-new-beta-version |access-date=November 17, 2021 |archive-date=December 25, 2010 }}</ref> Features like "Changes", "Summary", and a graphical site map were added subsequently. In March that year, it was said on the Wayback Machine forum that "the Beta of the new Wayback Machine has a more complete and up-to-date index of all crawled materials into 2010, and will continue to be updated regularly. The index driving the classic Wayback Machine only has a little bit of material past 2008, and no further index updates are planned, as it will be phased out this year."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.archive.org/post/350738/updated-wayback-machine-in-beta-testing |title=Beta Wayback Machine, in forum |access-date=April 16, 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140417082107/https://archive.org/post/350738/updated-wayback-machine-in-beta-testing |archive-date=April 17, 2014}}</ref> Also in 2011, the Internet Archive installed their sixth pair of PetaBox racks which increased the Wayback Machine's storage capacity by 700 terabytes.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://archive.org/post/353721/6th-pair-of-racks-go-into-service-over-2pb-of-data-space-used |title=Internet Archive Forums: 6th pair of racks go into service: over 2PB of data space used |website=Internet Archive |access-date=October 25, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161024144627/https://archive.org/post/353721/6th-pair-of-racks-go-into-service-over-2pb-of-data-space-used |archive-date=October 24, 2016 |url-status=live }}</ref> In January 2013, the company announced a milestone of 240 billion URLs.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://blog.archive.org/2013/01/09/updated-wayback/ |title=Wayback Machine: Now with 240,000,000,000 URLs | Internet Archive Blogs |date=January 9, 2013 |access-date=April 16, 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140414221120/http://blog.archive.org/2013/01/09/updated-wayback/ |archive-date=April 14, 2014}}</ref> In October 2013, the company introduced the "Save a Page" feature, which allows any Internet user to archive the contents of a URL, and quickly generates a [[permanent link]] unlike the preceding ''liveweb'' feature.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://blog.archive.org/2013/10/25/fixing-broken-links/ |title=Fixing Broken Links on the Internet |last=Rossi |first=Alexis |date=October 25, 2013 |website=Internet Archive |publisher=Collections Team, the Internet Archive |location=San Francisco, CA, US |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141107193437/http://blog.archive.org/2013/10/25/fixing-broken-links/ |archive-date=November 7, 2014 |url-status=live |access-date=March 25, 2015 |quote=We have added the ability to archive a page instantly and get back a permanent URL for that page in the Wayback Machine. This service allows anyone – wikipedia editors, scholars, legal professionals, students, or home cooks like me – to create a stable URL to cite, share or bookmark any information they want to still have access to in the future.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |first=Alexander |last=Baron |title=((The new Internet Archive Wayback Machine now online)) |url=http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/360776 |website=Digital Journal |date=October 23, 2013 |access-date=November 19, 2020 |archive-date=November 19, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201119071411/http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/360776}}</ref> In December 2014, the Wayback Machine contained 435 [[billion]] web pages—almost nine petabytes of data, and was growing at about 20 terabytes a week.<ref name="Arora">{{cite journal |last1=Arora |first1=Sanjay K. |last2=Li |first2=Yin |last3=Youtie |first3=Jan |last4=Shapira |first4=Philip |date=May 5, 2015 |title=Using the wayback machine to mine websites in the social sciences: A methodological resource |journal=Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology |volume=67 |issue=8 |pages=1904–1915 |doi=10.1002/asi.23503 |issn=2330-1635|doi-access=free |hdl=10.1002/asi.23503 |hdl-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Internet Archive Frequently Asked Questions |url=https://archive.org/about/faqs.php |access-date=January 17, 2015 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091021003552/https://archive.org/about/faqs.php |archive-date=October 21, 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://archive.org/about/faqs.php |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141218203115/https://archive.org/about/faqs.php |url-status=dead |archive-date=December 18, 2014 |title=Internet Archive Frequently Asked Questions |date=December 18, 2014 |access-date=December 13, 2018}}</ref> In July 2016, the Wayback Machine reportedly contained around 15 petabytes of data.<ref>{{cite web |title=Can the manipulation of big data change the way the world thinks? |work=The National |url=http://www.thenational.ae/opinion/comment/can-the-manipulation-of-big-data-change-the-way-the-world-thinks |access-date=May 14, 2017 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170112060354/http://www.thenational.ae/opinion/comment/can-the-manipulation-of-big-data-change-the-way-the-world-thinks |archive-date=January 12, 2017}}</ref> In October 2016, it was announced that the way web pages are counted would be changed, resulting in the decrease of the archived pages counts shown. Embedded objects such as pictures, videos, style sheets, JavaScripts are no longer counted as a "web page", whereas HTML, PDF, and plain text documents remain counted.<ref name=":0">{{cite web |author=Goel, Vinay |date=October 23, 2016 |title=Defining Web pages, Web sites and Web captures |url=https://blog.archive.org/2016/10/23/defining-web-pages-web-sites-and-web-captures/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181209195730/https://blog.archive.org/2016/10/23/defining-web-pages-web-sites-and-web-captures/ |archive-date=December 9, 2018 |access-date=December 9, 2018 |publisher=Internet Archive}}</ref> In September 2018, the Wayback Machine contained over 25 petabytes of data.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://thehustle.co/inside-wayback-machine-internet-archive |title=Inside Wayback Machine, the internet's time capsule |last=Crockett |first=Zachary |date=September 28, 2018 |work=The Hustle |access-date=October 26, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181002145800/https://thehustle.co/inside-wayback-machine-internet-archive |archive-date=October 2, 2018 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.wired.com/story/wired25-virginia-heffernan-internet-archive-wayback-machine/ |url-access=limited |title=Things Break and Decay on the Internet—That's a Good Thing |last=Heffernan |first=Virginia |date=September 18, 2018 |magazine=WIRED |access-date=October 26, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180925130510/https://www.wired.com/story/wired25-virginia-heffernan-internet-archive-wayback-machine/ |archive-date=September 25, 2018 |url-status=live }}</ref> As of December 2020, the Wayback Machine contained over 70 petabytes of data.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://blog.adafruit.com/2020/12/01/donate-to-the-internet-archive-digital-library-of-free-borrowable-books-movies-music-wayback-machine-internetarchive/ |title=Donate to the Internet Archive: Digital Library of Free & Borrowable Books, Movies, Music & Wayback Machine @internetarchive |date=December 1, 2020 |publisher=adafruit |access-date=December 2, 2020 |archive-date=December 2, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201202065323/https://blog.adafruit.com/2020/12/01/donate-to-the-internet-archive-digital-library-of-free-borrowable-books-movies-music-wayback-machine-internetarchive/ |url-status=live }}</ref> {{Bar chart | title = Wayback Machine growth<ref>{{cite web |url=https://blog.archive.org/2014/05/09/wayback-machine-hits-400000000000 |title=Wayback Machine Hits 400,000,000,000! |author=michelle |publisher=Internet Archive |date=May 9, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140826191225/http://blog.archive.org/2014/05/09/wayback-machine-hits-400000000000/ |archive-date=August 26, 2014 |url-status=live |access-date=March 25, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.archive.org/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201231000610/https://archive.org/ |title=Internet Archive |archive-date=December 31, 2020 |url-status=dead |publisher=Internet Archive |access-date=March 8, 2021}}<!-- Update me at end of 2021 --></ref> | label_type = Wayback Machine by year | data_type = Pages archived | bar_width = 45 | width_units = em | data_max = 900000000000 | label1 = 2004 | data1 = 30000000000 | label2 = 2005 | data2 = 40000000000 | label3 = 2008 | data3 = 85000000000 | label4 = 2012 | data4 = 150000000000 | label5 = 2013 | data5 = 373000000000 | label6 = 2014 | data6 = 400000000000 |label7=2015|data7=452000000000|label8=2016|data8=459000000000|label9=2017|data9=279000000000|data10=310000000000|label10=2018|data11=345000000000|label11=2019|data12=405000000000|label12=2020|label13=2021|data13=514000000000|label14=2022|data14=640000000000|color1=lightblue|color2=lightblue|color3=lightblue|color4=yellow|color5=yellow|color6=yellow|color7=orange|color8=orange|color9=yellow|color10=yellow|color11=yellow|color12=yellow|color13=orange|color14=red|comment1=0–100B: Light blue|comment4=100B–450B: Yellow|comment7=450B–600B: Orange|comment14=600B–: Red|data15=866000000000|label15=2024|color15=Red}} ===Wayback Machine APIs=== The Wayback Machine service offers three public APIs, SavePageNow, Availability, and CDX.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://archive.org/help/wayback_api.php|title=Wayback Machine APIs |website=Internet Archive}}</ref> SavePageNow can be used to archive web pages. Availability API for checking the archive availability status for a web page,<ref>{{GitHub |akamhy/waybackpy}}</ref> checking whether an archive for the web page exists or not. CDX API is for complex querying, filtering, and analysis of captured data.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://blog.archive.org/developers/ | title=Developers | date=August 22, 2014 |website=Internet Archive Blogs |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240212160820/https://blog.archive.org/developers/ |archive-date= February 12, 2024 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=http://blog.archive.org/2018/12/13/documentation-for-public-apis-at-the-internet-archive/ | title=Documentation for Public APIs at the Internet Archive | date=December 13, 2018 |website=Internet Archive Blogs |first1=John |last1=Gonzalez |url-status=live |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20240113211453/https://blog.archive.org/2018/12/13/documentation-for-public-apis-at-the-internet-archive/ |archive-date= January 13, 2024 }}</ref> ===Website exclusion policy=== Historically, the Wayback Machine has respected the [[robots exclusion standard]] (robots.txt) in determining if a website would be crawled – or if already crawled, if its archives would be publicly viewable. Website owners had the option to opt out of Wayback Machine through the use of robots.txt. It applied robots.txt rules retroactively; if a site blocked the Internet Archive, any previously archived pages from the domain were immediately rendered unavailable as well. In addition, the Internet Archive stated that "Sometimes, a website owner will contact us directly and ask us to stop crawling or archiving a site. We comply with these requests."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://web.archive.org/collections/web/faqs.html#exclusions |title=FAQs – Some sites are not available because of Robots.txt or other exclusions. What does that mean? |website=Internet Archive Wayback Machine |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110415130934/https://web.archive.org/collections/web/faqs.html#exclusions |archive-date=April 15, 2011}}</ref> In addition, the website says: "The Internet Archive is not interested in preserving or offering access to Web sites or other internet documents of persons who do not want their materials in the collection."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.archive.org/about/faqs.php#2 |title= Frequently Asked Questions |website=Internet Archive |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140417122600/https://archive.org/about/faqs.php |archive-date=April 17, 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/nekzzq/wayback-machine-deleting-evidence-flexispy |website=Vice |title=The Wayback Machine Is Deleting Evidence of Malware Sold to Stalkers |last=Cox |first=Joseph |date=May 22, 2018 |access-date=May 23, 2018 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20180522192132/https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/nekzzq/wayback-machine-deleting-evidence-flexispy |archive-date=May 22, 2018 |url-status=live}}{{cbignore}}</ref> On April 17, 2017, reports surfaced of sites that had gone defunct and became [[parked domain]]s that were using robots.txt to exclude themselves from search engines, resulting in them being inadvertently excluded from the Wayback Machine.<ref>{{cite web |title=Robots.txt meant for search engines don't work well for web archives |url=https://blog.archive.org/2017/04/17/robots-txt-meant-for-search-engines-dont-work-well-for-web-archives/ |website=Internet Archive |date=April 17, 2017 |access-date=June 29, 2019}}</ref> Following this, the Internet Archive changed the policy to require an explicit exclusion request to remove sites from the Wayback Machine.<ref name="Using" /> ====The Oakland Archive Policy==== Wayback's retroactive exclusion policy is based in part upon ''Recommendations for Managing Removal Requests and Preserving Archival Integrity'', known as ''The Oakland Archive Policy'', published by the School of Information Management and Systems at [[University of California, Berkeley]] in 2002, which gives a website owner the right to block access to the site's archives.<ref>{{cite web |title=Recommendations for Managing Removal Requests And Preserving Archival Integrity |date=December 14, 2002 |publisher=[[University of California]] |url=http://www2.sims.berkeley.edu/research/conferences/aps/removal-policy.html |access-date=October 20, 2024 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030502165937/http://sims.berkeley.edu/research/conferences/aps/removal-policy.html |archive-date=May 2, 2003}}</ref> Wayback has complied with this policy to help avoid expensive litigation.<ref>{{cite web |title=Retroactive robots.txt removal of past crawls AKA Oakland Archive Policy |date=July 7, 2014 |publisher=Internet Archive |url=https://archive.org/post/1019415/retroactive-robotstxt-removal-of-past-crawls-aka-oakland-archive-policy |access-date=September 14, 2017 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171010124036/https://archive.org/post/1019415/retroactive-robotstxt-removal-of-past-crawls-aka-oakland-archive-policy |archive-date=October 10, 2017 }}</ref> The Wayback retroactive exclusion policy began to relax in 2017, when it stopped honoring robots on U.S. government and military web sites for both crawling and displaying web pages. As of April 2017, Wayback is ignoring robots.txt more broadly, not just for U.S. government websites.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://blog.archive.org/2017/04/17/robots-txt-meant-for-search-engines-dont-work-well-for-web-archives/ |title=Robots.txt meant for search engines don't work well for web archives |work=Internet Archive Blogs |first=Mark |last=Graham |date=April 17, 2017 |access-date=April 16, 2017 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170417131508/http://blog.archive.org/2017/04/17/robots-txt-meant-for-search-engines-dont-work-well-for-web-archives/ |archive-date=April 17, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Archivierung des Internets: Internet Archive ignoriert künftig robots.txt |date=April 25, 2017 |url=https://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/Archivierung-des-Internets-Internet-Archive-ignoriert-kuenftig-robots-txt-3693558.html |publisher=heise online |access-date=May 14, 2017 |language=de |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170427035659/https://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/Archivierung-des-Internets-Internet-Archive-ignoriert-kuenftig-robots-txt-3693558.html |archive-date=April 27, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Suchmaschinen: Internet Archive will künftig Robots.txt-Einträge ignorieren – Golem.de |url=https://www.golem.de/news/suchmaschinen-internet-archive-will-kuenftig-robots-txt-eintraege-ignorieren-1704-127446.html |access-date=May 14, 2017 |language=de |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170619210648/https://www.golem.de/news/suchmaschinen-internet-archive-will-kuenftig-robots-txt-eintraege-ignorieren-1704-127446.html |archive-date=June 19, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Internet Archive will ignore robots.txt files to keep historical record accurate |url=https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/internet-archive-robots-txt/ |newspaper=Digital Trends |access-date=May 14, 2017 |date=April 24, 2017 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170516130029/https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/internet-archive-robots-txt/ |archive-date=May 16, 2017}}</ref> ==Uses== From its public launch in 2001, the Wayback Machine has been studied by scholars both for the ways it stores and collects data as well as for the actual pages contained in its archive. As of 2013, scholars had written about 350 articles on the Wayback Machine, mostly from the [[information technology]], [[Library and information science|library science]], and [[social science]] fields. Social science scholars have used the Wayback Machine to analyze how the development of websites from the mid-1990s to the present has affected the company's growth.<ref name="Arora" /> When the Wayback Machine archives a page, it usually includes most of the hyperlinks, keeping those links active when they just as easily could have been broken by the Internet's instability. Researchers in India studied the effectiveness of the Wayback Machine's ability to save hyperlinks in online scholarly publications and found that it saved slightly more than half of them.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Sampath Kumar |first1=B.T. |last2=Prithviraj |first2=K.R. |date=October 21, 2014 |title=Bringing life to dead: Role of Wayback Machine in retrieving vanished URLs |journal=Journal of Information Science |volume=41 |issue=1 |pages=71–81 |doi=10.1177/0165551514552752 |s2cid=28320982 |issn=0165-5515}}</ref> "Journalists use the Wayback Machine to view dead websites, dated news reports, and changes to website contents. Its content has been used to hold politicians accountable and expose battlefield lies."<ref name="Nelson">{{cite web |url=https://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2016-08-17/wayback-machine-wont-censor-archive-for-taste-director-says-after-olympics-article-scrubbed |first1=Steven |last1=Nelson |date=August 17, 2016 |website=U.S. News & World Report |title=Wayback Machine Won't Censor Archive for Taste, Director Says After Olympics Article Scrubbed |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170106151933/http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2016-08-17/wayback-machine-wont-censor-archive-for-taste-director-says-after-olympics-article-scrubbed |archive-date=January 6, 2017 |url-status=live |access-date=May 14, 2017}}</ref> In 2014, an archived social media page of [[Igor Girkin]], a separatist rebel leader in Ukraine, showed him boasting about his troops having shot down a suspected Ukrainian military airplane before it became known that the plane actually was a civilian Malaysian Airlines jet ([[Malaysia Airlines Flight 17]]), after which he deleted the post and blamed Ukraine's military for downing the plane.<ref name="Nelson"/><ref>{{cite magazine |title=What the Web Said Yesterday |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/01/26/cobweb |url-access=limited |magazine=[[The New Yorker]] |access-date=May 14, 2017 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150125141230/http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/01/26/cobweb |archive-date=January 25, 2015 |first=Jill |last=Lepore | author-link=Jill Lepore | date=January 26, 2015 }}</ref> In 2017, the [[March for Science]] originated from a discussion on [[Reddit]] that indicated someone had visited Archive.org and discovered that all references to [[climate change]] had been deleted from the White House website. In response, a user commented, "There needs to be a Scientists' March on Washington".<ref>{{cite news |title=The March for Science began with this person's 'throwaway line' on Reddit |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2017/04/21/the-march-for-science-began-with-this-persons-throwaway-line-on-reddit/ |date=April 21, 2017 |first1= Ben |last1=Guarino |newspaper=Washington Post |access-date=April 23, 2017 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170423081417/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2017/04/21/the-march-for-science-began-with-this-persons-throwaway-line-on-reddit/ |archive-date=April 23, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2017/01/24/are-scientists-going-to-march-on-washington/ |url-access=subscription |date=January 25, 2017 |first1=Sarah |last1=Kaplan |title=Are scientists going to march on Washington? |newspaper=The Washington Post |access-date=January 31, 2017 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170131152535/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2017/01/24/are-scientists-going-to-march-on-washington/ |archive-date=January 31, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Foley |first1=Katherine Ellen |title=The global March for Science started with a single Reddit thread |url=https://qz.com/965485/the-global-march-for-science-started-with-a-single-reddit-thread/ |date=April 22, 2017 |work=Quartz |access-date=April 23, 2017 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170424004314/https://qz.com/965485/the-global-march-for-science-started-with-a-single-reddit-thread/ |archive-date=April 24, 2017}}</ref> The site is used heavily for verification, providing access to references and content creation by [[Wikipedia community|Wikipedia editors]].<ref name="Graham">{{Cite web|url=http://blog.archive.org/2018/10/01/more-than-9-million-broken-links-on-wikipedia-are-now-rescued/|title=More than 9 million broken links on Wikipedia are now rescued|first=Mark|last=Graham|date=October 1, 2018 |website=Internet Archive Blogs |url-status=live |archive-url= https://archive.today/20230408194542/http://blog.archive.org/2018/10/01/more-than-9-million-broken-links-on-wikipedia-are-now-rescued/ |archive-date= April 8, 2023 }}</ref> When new URLs are added to Wikipedia, the Internet Archive has been archiving them.<ref name="Graham" /> In September 2020, a partnership was announced with [[Cloudflare]] to automatically archive websites served via its "Always Online" service, which will also allow it to direct users to its copy of the site if it cannot reach the original host.<ref name="archive-partners">{{Cite web |last=Graham |first=Mark |date=September 17, 2020 |title=Cloudflare and the Wayback Machine, joining forces for a more reliable Web |url= http://blog.archive.org/2020/09/17/internet-archive-partners-with-cloudflare-to-help-make-the-web-more-useful-and-reliable/ |access-date=September 17, 2020 |website= Internet Archive Blogs}}</ref> === Limitations === In 2014, there was a six-month lag time between when a website was crawled and when it became available for viewing in the Wayback Machine.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://archive.org/about/faqs.php |title=Internet Archive Frequently Asked Questions |date=April 2, 2014 |website=Internet Archive |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140402223358/https://archive.org/about/faqs.php |archive-date=April 2, 2014|url-status=dead|access-date=November 23, 2018}}</ref> As of 2024, the lag time is 3 to 10 hours.<ref name="Using" /> The Wayback Machine offers only limited search facilities. Its "Site Search" feature allows users to find a site based on words describing the site, rather than words found on the web pages themselves.<ref name="Bates" /> The Wayback Machine does not include every web page ever made due to the limitations of its web crawler. The Wayback Machine cannot completely archive web pages that contain interactive features such as Flash platforms and forms written in JavaScript and [[progressive web application]]s, because those functions require interaction with the host website. This means that, since approximately July 9, 2013, the Wayback Machine has been unable to display YouTube comments when saving videos' watch pages, as, according to the Archive Team, comments are no longer "loaded within the page itself."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.archiveteam.org/index.php?title=YouTube#Comment_loading|website=archiveteam.org|title=YouTube – Archiveteam|access-date=August 6, 2020|archive-date=August 5, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200805184742/https://www.archiveteam.org/index.php?title=YouTube#Comment_loading|url-status=live}}</ref> The Wayback Machine's web crawler has difficulty extracting anything not coded in HTML or one of its variants, which can often result in broken hyperlinks and missing images. Due to this, the web crawler cannot archive "orphan pages" that are not linked to by other pages.<ref name="Bates">{{cite journal |last=Bates |first=Mary Ellen |date=2002 |title=The Wayback Machine |journal=Online |volume=26 |pages=80 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://archive.org/about/faqs.php |title=Internet Archive Frequently Asked Questions |website=Internet Archive |access-date=October 18, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130420213122/https://archive.org/about/faqs.php |archive-date=April 20, 2013 |url-status=live }}</ref> The Wayback Machine's crawler only follows a predetermined number of hyperlinks based on a preset depth limit, so it cannot archive every hyperlink on every page.<ref name="Crawls" /> ===In legal evidence=== ====Civil litigation==== =====''Netbula LLC v. Chordiant Software Inc.''===== In a 2009 case, ''Netbula, LLC v. Chordiant Software Inc.'', defendant Chordiant filed a motion to compel Netbula to disable the [[robots.txt]] file on its website that was causing the Wayback Machine to retroactively remove access to previous versions of pages it had archived from Netbula's site, pages that Chordiant believed would support its case.<ref name="Lloyd"/> Netbula objected to the motion on the ground that defendants were asking to alter Netbula's website and that they should have subpoenaed Internet Archive for the pages directly.<ref>{{cite web |last=Cortes |first=Antonio |date=October 2009 |title=Motion Opposing Removal of Robots.txt |url=http://www.american-justice.org/index.cgi/Page/116/OPPOSITION-TO-MOTION-TO-COMPEL-REMOVAL-OF-ROBOT-TXT-FILE-FROM-WEBSITE/ |access-date=October 15, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101027050350/http://www.american-justice.org/index.cgi/Page/116/OPPOSITION-TO-MOTION-TO-COMPEL-REMOVAL-OF-ROBOT-TXT-FILE-FROM-WEBSITE |archive-date=October 27, 2010 }}</ref> An employee of Internet Archive filed a sworn statement supporting Chordiant's motion, however, stating that it could not produce the web pages by any other means "without considerable burden, expense and disruption to its operations."<ref name="Lloyd"/> Magistrate Judge Howard Lloyd in the Northern District of California, San Jose Division, rejected Netbula's arguments and ordered them to disable the robots.txt blockage temporarily in order to allow Chordiant to retrieve the archived pages that they sought.<ref name="Lloyd">{{cite web |last=Lloyd |first=Howard |date=October 2009 |title=Order to Disable Robots.txt |url=http://www.american-justice.org/upload/page/123/69/docket-187-order-on-IA-motion.pdf |access-date=October 15, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190808173832/http://www.american-justice.org/upload/page/123/69/docket-187-order-on-IA-motion.pdf |archive-date=August 8, 2019 |url-status=dead }}</ref> =====''Telewizja Polska USA, Inc. v. Echostar Satellite''===== In an October 2004 case, ''[[Telewizja Polska|Telewizja Polska USA, Inc.]] v. Echostar Satellite'', No. 02 C 3293, 65 Fed. R. Evid. Serv. 673 (N.D. Ill. October 15, 2004), a litigant attempted to use the Wayback Machine archives as a source of admissible evidence, perhaps for the first time. Telewizja Polska is the provider of [[TVP Polonia]] and [[EchoStar]] operates the [[Dish Network]]. Prior to the trial proceedings, EchoStar indicated that it intended to offer Wayback Machine snapshots as proof of the past content of Telewizja Polska's website. Telewizja Polska brought a motion ''[[in limine]]'' to suppress the snapshots on the grounds of [[hearsay]] and unauthenticated source, but Magistrate Judge Arlander Keys rejected Telewizja Polska's assertion of hearsay and denied TVP's motion ''in limine'' to exclude the evidence at trial.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Gelman |first=Lauren |date=November 17, 2004 |title=Internet Archive's Web Page Snapshots Held Admissible as Evidence |journal=Packets |volume=2 |issue=3 |url=http://cyberlaw.stanford.edu/packets002728.shtml |access-date=January 4, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110430095339/http://cyberlaw.stanford.edu/packets002728.shtml |archive-date=April 30, 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Howell |first=Beryl A. |date=February 2006 |title=Proving Web History: How to use the Internet Archive |journal=Journal of Internet Law |pages=3–9 |url=http://www.strozfriedberg.com/files/Publication/fee98a34-d739-478b-a7db-6af37b757714/Presentation/PublicationAttachment/aae88469-9835-4fe4-ae5f-38637924314f/BAHPROVINGWEBHISTORY.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100705043226/http://www.strozfriedberg.com/files/Publication/fee98a34-d739-478b-a7db-6af37b757714/Presentation/PublicationAttachment/aae88469-9835-4fe4-ae5f-38637924314f/BAHPROVINGWEBHISTORY.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=July 5, 2010 |access-date=August 6, 2008}}</ref> At the trial, however, District Court Judge Ronald Guzman, the trial judge, overruled Magistrate Keys' findings, and held that neither the affidavit of the Internet Archive employee nor the underlying pages (i.e., the Telewizja Polska website) were admissible as evidence. Judge Guzman reasoned that the employee's affidavit contained both hearsay and inconclusive supporting statements, and the purported web page, printouts were not self-authenticating.<ref>{{cite web |title=Looking For Evidence in Virtual Places Admissibility of Internet Evidence |url=https://www.netforlawyers.com/page/looking-evidence-virtual-places-admissibility-internet-evidence |access-date=June 14, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190701055139/https://www.netforlawyers.com/page/looking-evidence-virtual-places-admissibility-internet-evidence |archive-date=July 1, 2019 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Levitt |first1=Carole A. |last2=Rosch |first2=Mark E. |title=Find Info Like a Pro: Mining the Internet's Publicly Available Resources for Investigative Research, Tom 1 |date=2010 |publisher=American Bar Association |isbn=978-1-60442-890-2 |pages=194–196 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SUErZdbvcOkC |access-date=June 14, 2020 |archive-date=December 18, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201218143732/https://books.google.com/books?id=SUErZdbvcOkC |url-status=live }}</ref> ====Patent law==== {{Main|Internet as a source of prior art}} The [[United States Patent and Trademark Office]] and the [[European Patent Office]] will accept date stamps from the Internet Archive as evidence of when a given Web page was accessible to the public. These dates are used to determine if a Web page is available as [[prior art]] for instance in examining a patent application.<ref>{{cite web |title=Prior Art in the Field of Business Method Patents – When is an Electronic Document a Printed Publication for Prior Art Purposes? |first=Wynn W. |last=Coggins |date=Fall 2002 |url=http://www.uspto.gov/patents/resources/methods/aiplafall02paper.jsp |work=USPTO |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120921083344/http://www.uspto.gov/patents/resources/methods/aiplafall02paper.jsp |archive-date=September 21, 2012 |access-date=August 15, 2012 }}</ref> ====Limitations of utility==== There are technical limitations to archiving a website, and as a consequence, opposing parties in litigation can misuse the results provided by website archives. This problem can be exacerbated by the practice of submitting screenshots of web pages in complaints, answers, or expert witness reports when the underlying links are not exposed and therefore, can contain errors. For example, archives such as the Wayback Machine do not fill out forms and therefore, do not include the contents of non-[[Semantic URL|RESTful]] e-commerce databases in their archives.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.practice.com/2008/12/29/debunking-the-wayback-machine |title=Debunking the Wayback Machine |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100629050840/http://www.practice.com/2008/12/29/debunking-the-wayback-machine |archive-date=June 29, 2010}}</ref> ==Legal status== In Europe, the Wayback Machine could be interpreted as violating [[copyright]] laws. Only the content creator can decide where their content is published or duplicated so the Archive would have to delete pages from its system upon request of the creator.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Bahr |first1=Martin |url=http://www.jurpc.de/aufsatz/20020029.htm |title=The Wayback Machine und Google Cache – eine Verletzung deutschen Urheberrechts? |journal=JurPC |pages=9 |year=2002 |language=de |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090823062928/http://www.jurpc.de/aufsatz/20020029.htm |archive-date=August 23, 2009 |url-status=live |doi=10.7328/jurpcb/20021719}}</ref> The exclusion policies for the Wayback Machine may be found in the FAQ section of the site.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.archive.org/about/faqs.php |title=Internet Archive FAQ |access-date=April 16, 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140417122600/https://archive.org/about/faqs.php |archive-date=April 17, 2014}}</ref> Some cases have been brought against the Internet Archive specifically for its Wayback Machine archiving efforts.<!--See [[Internet Archive#Controversies and legal disputes|Internet Archive controversies and legal disputes]].--> <!-- Wayback Machine-specific issues moved here, for clarity. See [[Talk:Internet Archive#Merger proposal - Wayback Machine]]--> ==Archived content legal issues== ===Scientology=== {{See also|Scientology and the Internet}} In late 2002, the Internet Archive removed various sites that were critical of [[Scientology]] from the Wayback Machine.<ref>{{cite news |first=Lisa M |last=Bowman |title=Net archive silences Scientology critic |url=http://news.cnet.com/2100-1023-959236.html |publisher=CNET News |date=September 24, 2002 |access-date=January 4, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120515210932/http://news.cnet.com/2100-1023-959236.html|archive-date=May 15, 2012}}</ref> An error message stated that this was in response to a "request by the site owner".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.archive.org/iathreads/post-view.php?id=778 |title=exclusions from the Wayback Machine |access-date=January 4, 2007 |author=Jeff |date=September 23, 2002 |format=Blog |work=Wayback Machine Forum |publisher=Internet Archive |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070211155138/http://www.archive.org/iathreads/post-view.php?id=778 |archive-date=February 11, 2007}} ''Author and Date indicate initiation of forum thread''.</ref> Later, it was clarified that lawyers from the [[Church of Scientology]] had demanded the removal and that the site owners did not want their material removed.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://research.yale.edu/lawmeme/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=350 |title=Sherman, Set the Wayback Machine for Scientology |access-date=January 4, 2007 |last=Miller |first=Ernest |format=Blog |work=LawMeme |publisher=Yale Law School |url-status=dead |archive-date=November 16, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121116072812/http://lawmeme.research.yale.edu/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=350}}</ref> ===Healthcare Advocates, Inc.=== In 2003, Harding Earley Follmer & Frailey defended a client from a trademark dispute using the Archive's Wayback Machine. The attorneys were able to demonstrate that the claims made by the plaintiff were invalid, based on the content of their website from several years prior. The plaintiff, Healthcare Advocates, then amended their complaint to include the Internet Archive, accusing the organization of copyright infringement as well as violations of the [[Digital Millennium Copyright Act|DMCA]] and the [[Computer Fraud and Abuse Act]]. Healthcare Advocates claimed that, since they had installed a [[robots.txt]] file on their website, even if after the initial lawsuit was filed, the Archive should have removed all previous copies of the plaintiff website from the Wayback Machine, however, some material continued to be publicly visible on Wayback.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Dye |first=Jessica |year=2005 |title=Website Sued for Controversial Trip into Internet Past |series=28 |journal=EContent |volume=11 |pages=8–9}}</ref> The lawsuit was settled out of court after Wayback fixed the problem.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Bangeman |first=Eric |date=August 31, 2006 |title=Internet Archive Settles Suit Over Wayback Machine |journal=Ars Technica |url=https://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060831-7634.html |access-date=November 29, 2007 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071105205430/http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060831-7634.html |archive-date=November 5, 2007}}</ref> ===Suzanne Shell=== Activist [[Suzanne Shell]] filed suit in December 2005, demanding Internet Archive pay her US$100,000 for archiving her website profane-justice.org between 1999 and 2004.<ref name="Justia">{{cite court |litigants=Internet Archive v. Shell |vol=505 F.Supp.2d 755 |reporter=at justia.com |opinion= |pinpoint=1:2006cv01726 |court=[[United States District Court for the District of Colorado|Colorado District Court]] |date=August 31, 2006 |url=http://dockets.justia.com/docket/colorado/codce/1:2006cv01726/98194 |access-date=April 3, 2022 |quote='April 25, 2007 Settlement agreement announced.' Filing 65, 2007-04-30: '...therefore ORDERED that this matter shall be DISMISSED WITH PREJUDICE...'}}</ref><ref name="Babcock">{{cite web |last=Babcock |first=Lewis T. |date=February 13, 2007 |url=http://blog.ericgoldman.org/archives/waybackshell.pdf |title=''Internet Archive v. Shell'' Civil Action No. 06cv01726LTBCBS |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140125143809/http://blog.ericgoldman.org/archives/waybackshell.pdf |archive-date=January 25, 2014 |url-status=live |access-date=March 25, 2015 |quote=1) Internet Archive's motion to dismiss Shell's counterclaim for conversion and civil theft (Second Cause of Action) is GRANTED, 2) Internet Archive's motion to dismiss Shell's counterclaim for breach of contract (Third Cause of Action) is DENIED; 3) Internet Archive's motion to dismiss Shell's counterclaim for Racketeering under RICO and COCCA (Fourth Cause of Action) is GRANTED.}}</ref> Internet Archive filed a [[declaratory judgment]] action in the [[United States District Court for the Northern District of California]] on January 20, 2006, seeking a judicial determination that Internet Archive did not violate Shell's [[copyright]]. Shell responded and brought a [[countersuit]] against Internet Archive for archiving her site, which she alleges is in violation of her [[terms of service]].<ref>{{cite news |first=Thomas |last=Claburn |title=Colorado Woman Sues To Hold Web Crawlers To Contracts |publisher=[[InformationWeek]], UBM Tech, UBM LLC |location=New York, New York, US |date=March 16, 2007 |url=http://www.informationweek.com/colorado-woman-sues-to-hold-web-crawlers-to-contracts/d/d-id/1053075 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140904170742/http://www.informationweek.com/colorado-woman-sues-to-hold-web-crawlers-to-contracts/d/d-id/1053075 |archive-date=September 4, 2014 |url-status=live |access-date=March 25, 2015 |quote=Computers can enter into contracts on behalf of people. The Uniform Electronic Transactions Act (UETA) says that a 'contract may be formed by the interaction of electronic agents of the parties, even if no individual was aware of or reviewed the electronic agents' actions or the resulting terms and agreements.'}}</ref> On February 13, 2007, a judge for the [[United States District Court for the District of Colorado]] dismissed all counterclaims except [[breach of contract]].<ref name="Babcock" /> The Internet Archive did not move to dismiss the [[copyright infringement]] claims that Shell asserted arose out of its copying activities, which would also go forward.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.internetlibrary.com/cases/lib_case456.cfm |title=Internet Archive v. Suzanne Shell |last=Samson |first=Martin H. |year=2007<!-- This article has no date. I looked everywhere. --> |publisher=Internet Library of Law and Court Decisions |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140803002113/http://www.internetlibrary.com/cases/lib_case456.cfm |archive-date=August 3, 2014 |url-status=live |access-date=March 25, 2015 |quote=More importantly, held the court, Internet Archive's mere copying of Shell's site, and display thereof in its database, did not constitute the requisite exercise of dominion and control over defendant's property. Importantly, noted the court, the defendant at all times owned and operated her own site. Said the Court: 'Shell has failed to allege facts showing that Internet Archive exercised dominion or control over her website, since Shell's complaint states explicitly that she continued to own and operate the website while it was archived on the Wayback machine. Shell identifies no authority supporting the notion that copying documents is by itself enough of a deprivation of use to support conversion. Conversely, numerous circuits have determined that it is not.'}}</ref> On April 25, 2007, Internet Archive and Suzanne Shell jointly announced the settlement of their lawsuit.<ref name="Justia" /> The Internet Archive said it "...has no interest in including materials in the Wayback Machine of persons who do not wish to have their Web content archived. We recognize that Ms. Shell has a valid and enforceable copyright in her Web site and we regret that the inclusion of her Web site in the Wayback Machine resulted in this litigation." Shell said, "I respect the historical value of Internet Archive's goal. I never intended to interfere with that goal nor cause it any harm."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://archive.org/post/119669/lawsuit-settled |title=Internet Archive and Suzanne Shell Settle Lawsuit |author=brewster |date=April 25, 2007 |website=Internet Archive |location=Denver, CO, US |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101205074057/https://archive.org/post/119669/lawsuit-settled |archive-date=December 5, 2010 |url-status=live |access-date=March 25, 2015 |quote=Both parties sincerely regret any turmoil that the lawsuit may have caused for the other. Neither Internet Archive nor Ms. Shell condones any conduct which may have caused harm to either party arising out of the public attention to this lawsuit. The parties have not engaged in such conduct and request that the public response to the amicable resolution of this litigation be consistent with their wishes that no further harm or turmoil be caused to either party.}}</ref> ===Daniel Davydiuk=== Between 2013 and 2016, a [[pornographic actor]] named Daniel Davydiuk tried to remove archived images of himself from the Wayback Machine's archive, first by sending multiple [[DMCA request]]s to the archive, and then by appealing to the [[Federal Court of Canada]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.mondaq.com/canada/x/358282/Trade%20Secrets/Copyright%20Implications%20of%20a%20Right%20to%20be%20Forgotten%20Or%20How%20to%20TakeDown%20the%20Internet%20Archive |title=Copyright Implications Of A "Right To Be Forgotten"? Or How To Take-Down The Internet Archive. |date=December 5, 2014 |first=Richard |last=Stobbe |access-date=March 8, 2019 |work=Mondaq |archive-date=November 18, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181118095257/http://www.mondaq.com/canada/x/358282/Trade%20Secrets/Copyright%20Implications%20of%20a%20Right%20to%20be%20Forgotten%20Or%20How%20to%20TakeDown%20the%20Internet%20Archive |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://canlii.ca/t/gf3d7 |title=Davydiuk v. Internet Archive Canada, 2014 FC 944 |date=October 16, 2014 |access-date=March 8, 2019 |work=[[CanLII]] |publisher=[[Federation of Law Societies of Canada]] |first=Glennys |last=McVeigh |author-link=Glennys McVeigh |editor-first=James |editor-last=Philpott |editor2-first=Adam |editor2-last=Weissman |editor3-first=Ren |editor3-last=Bucholz |editor4-first=Brent |editor4-last=Kettles |editor5-first=Aaron |editor5-last=Pearl |archive-date=December 18, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201218143737/https://www.canlii.org/en/ca/fct/doc/2014/2014fc944/2014fc944.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.canlii.org/en/ca/fct/doc/2016/2016fc1313/2016fc1313.html |title=Davydiuk v. Internet Archive Canada and Internet Archive, 2016 FC 1313 (CanLII) |date=November 30, 2016 |access-date=March 8, 2019 |location=Ottawa, Ontario |work=[[CanLII]] |first=Richard F. |last=Southcott |publisher=[[Federation of Law Societies of Canada]] |editor-first=John |editor-last=Philpott |editor2-first=Alex |editor2-last=Alton |editor3-first=Ren |editor3-last=Bucholz |archive-date=June 29, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190629215557/https://www.canlii.org/en/ca/fct/doc/2016/2016fc1313/2016fc1313.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The images were removed from the website in 2017. === FlexiSpy === In 2018, archives of [[Stalkerware|stalkerware application]] FlexiSpy's website were removed from the Wayback Machine. The company claimed to have contacted the Internet Archive, presumably to remove the archives of its website.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Cox|first=Joseph|date=May 22, 2018|title=The Wayback Machine Is Deleting Evidence of Malware Sold to Stalkers|url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/nekzzq/wayback-machine-deleting-evidence-flexispy|access-date=January 24, 2022|website=[[Vice News|Vice]]|archive-date=January 24, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220124045413/https://www.vice.com/en/article/nekzzq/wayback-machine-deleting-evidence-flexispy|url-status=live}}</ref> ==Censorship and other threats== Archive.org is [[Internet censorship in China|blocked in China]].<ref>{{cite news |last1=Conger |first1=Kate |title=Backing up the history of the internet in Canada to save it from Trump |date=December 8, 2016 |url=https://techcrunch.com/2016/12/08/backing-up-the-history-of-the-internet-in-canada-to-save-it-from-trump/ |work=TechCrunch |access-date=May 14, 2017 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161227100714/https://techcrunch.com/2016/12/08/backing-up-the-history-of-the-internet-in-canada-to-save-it-from-trump/ |archive-date=December 27, 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Where to find what's disappeared online, and a whole lot more: the Internet Archive |date=February 23, 2017 |url=https://www.pri.org/stories/2017-02-23/where-find-whats-disappeared-online-and-whole-lot-more-internet-archive |publisher=Public Radio International |access-date=May 14, 2017 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170328092846/https://www.pri.org/stories/2017-02-23/where-find-whats-disappeared-online-and-whole-lot-more-internet-archive |archive-date=March 28, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=October 22, 2023 |title=Online Censorship In China |url=https://en.greatfire.org/archive.org |access-date=October 22, 2023 |website=[[GreatFire]]}}</ref> The Internet Archive was [[Internet censorship in Russia|blocked in its entirety in Russia]] in 2015–16, ostensibly for hosting a Jihad outreach video.<ref name="Nelson"/><ref>{{cite web |last1=Chirgwin |first1=Richard |title=There's no Wayback in Russia: Putin blocks Archive.org |date=September 1, 2015 |website=[[The Register]] |url=https://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/09/01/russias_putin_blocks_archiveorg/ |access-date=May 14, 2017 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161007165431/http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/09/01/russias_putin_blocks_archiveorg |archive-date=October 7, 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Russia won't go Wayback, blocks the Internet Archive |url=https://www.digitaltrends.com/web/russia-censors-wayback-machines-485-billion-archived-web-pages/ |publisher=Digital Trends |access-date=May 14, 2017 |date=June 26, 2015 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160417125727/http://www.digitaltrends.com/web/russia-censors-wayback-machines-485-billion-archived-web-pages/ |archive-date=April 17, 2016}}</ref> Since 2016, the website has been back, available in its entirety, although in 2016 Russian commercial lobbyists were suing the Internet Archive to ban it on copyright grounds.<ref>{{Cite web|title=В России разблокирован крупнейший интернет-архив|url=https://rg.ru/2016/04/18/v-rossii-razblokirovan-krupnejshij-internet-arhiv.html|access-date=October 18, 2020|website=Российская газета|date=April 18, 2016 |language=ru|archive-date=April 5, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190405031631/https://rg.ru/2016/04/18/v-rossii-razblokirovan-krupnejshij-internet-arhiv.html|url-status=live}}</ref> In March 2015, it was published that security researchers became aware of the threat posed by the service's unintentional [[Drive-by download|hosting of malicious binaries]] from archived sites.<ref>{{cite web |author=The VirusTotal Team |date=March 25, 2015 |title=207.241.226.190 IP address information |url=https://www.virustotal.com/en/ip-address/207.241.226.190/information/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714232311/https://www.virustotal.com/en/ip-address/207.241.226.190/information/ |archive-date=July 14, 2014 |access-date=March 25, 2015 |website=virustotal.com |publisher=[[VirusTotal]] |quote=2015-03-25: Latest URLs hosted in this IP address detected by at least one URL scanner or malicious URL dataset. ... 2/62 2015-03-25 16:14:12 [complete URL redacted]/Renegotiating_TLS.pdf ... 1/62 2015-03-25 04:46:34 [complete URL redacted]/CBLightSetup.exe |location=Dublin, Ireland}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |date=March 25, 2015 |title=Safe Browsing Diagnostic page for archive.org |url=https://www.google.com/safebrowsing/diagnostic?site=archive.org |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150406101743/http://www.google.com/safebrowsing/diagnostic?site=archive.org |archive-date=April 6, 2015 |access-date=March 25, 2015 |website=google.com/safebrowsing |quote=2015-03-25: Part of this site was listed for suspicious activity 138 time(s) over the past 90 days. ... What happened when Google visited this site? ... Of the 42410 pages we tested on the site over the past 90 days, 450 page(s) resulted in malicious software being downloaded and installed without user consent. The last time Google visited this site was on 2015-03-25, and the last time suspicious content was found on this site was on 2015-03-25. ... Malicious software includes 169 trojan(s), 126 virus, 43 backdoor(s). |location=Mountain View, CA, US}}</ref> [[Alison Macrina]], director of the [[Library Freedom Project]], notes that "while librarians deeply value individual privacy, we also strongly oppose censorship".<ref name="Nelson"/> There is at least one case in which an article was removed from the archive shortly after it had been removed from its original website. A ''[[The Daily Beast|Daily Beast]]'' reporter had written an article that outed several gay Olympian athletes in 2016 after the reporter had made a fake profile posing as a gay man on a dating app. ''The Daily Beast'' removed the article after it was met with widespread furor; not long after, the Internet Archive soon did as well, but emphatically stated that they did so for no other reason than to protect the safety of the outed athletes.<ref name="Nelson"/> Other threats include natural disasters,<ref>{{cite web |title=Help Us Keep the Archive Free, Accessible, and Reader Private {{!}} Internet Archive Blogs |date=November 29, 2016 |url=https://blog.archive.org/2016/11/29/help-us-keep-the-archive-free-accessible-and-private/ |access-date=May 14, 2017 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170521080543/http://blog.archive.org/2016/11/29/help-us-keep-the-archive-free-accessible-and-private/ |archive-date=May 21, 2017}}</ref> destruction (both remote and physical),<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.engadget.com/2013-11-07-wayback-machine-internet-archive-fire.html |title=Wayback Machine web archive survives destructive fire but needs help to recover |last=Sakr |first=Sharif |date=November 7, 2013 |access-date=April 3, 2022 |archive-date=November 9, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201109025136/https://www.engadget.com/2013-11-07-wayback-machine-internet-archive-fire.html}}</ref> manipulation of the archive's contents, problematic copyright laws,<ref>{{cite web |title=Internet Archive: Proposed Changes To DMCA Would Make Us "Censor The Web" |url=https://consumerist.com/2016/06/07/internet-archive-proposed-changes-to-dmca-would-make-us-censor-the-web/ |publisher=Consumerist |access-date=May 14, 2017 |date=June 7, 2016 |url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161111161239/https://consumerist.com/2016/06/07/internet-archive-proposed-changes-to-dmca-would-make-us-censor-the-web/ |archive-date=November 11, 2016}}</ref> and surveillance of the site's users.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Herb |first1=Ulrich |title=Die Trump-Angst grassiert |date=December 6, 2016 |trans-title=The Trump fear is rampant |url=https://www.heise.de/tp/features/Die-Trump-Angst-grassiert-3549579.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161207164413/https://www.heise.de/tp/features/Die-Trump-Angst-grassiert-3549579.html |archive-date=December 7, 2016 |access-date=May 14, 2017 |publisher=heise online |language=de |quote=Die Betreiber des Archives fürchten neben Zensur und Manipulation der digitalen Aufzeichnungen demnach auch die Überwachung der Archive-Nutzer. [The operators of the archive fear not only censorship and manipulation of the digital recordings, but also the surveillance of the archive users].}}</ref> Alexander Rose, executive director of the [[Long Now Foundation]], suspects that in the long term of multiple generations "next to nothing" will survive in a useful way, stating, "If we have continuity in our technological civilization, I suspect a lot of the bare data will remain findable and searchable. But I suspect almost nothing of the format in which it was delivered will be recognizable" because sites "with deep back-ends of content-management systems like Drupal and Ruby and Django" are harder to archive.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=LaFrance |first1=Adrienne |title=The Internet's Dark Ages |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2015/10/raiders-of-the-lost-web/409210/ |journal=The Atlantic |date=October 14, 2015 |access-date=May 14, 2017 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170507173716/https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2015/10/raiders-of-the-lost-web/409210/ |archive-date=May 7, 2017}}</ref> In 2016, in an article reflecting on the preservation of human knowledge, ''[[The Atlantic]]'' has commented that the Internet Archive, which describes itself to be built for the long-term,<ref>{{cite web|title=The Entire Internet Will Be Archived In Canada to Protect It From Trump |url=https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/the-entire-internet-will-be-archived-in-canada-to-protect-it-from-trump |publisher=Motherboard |access-date=May 14, 2017 |url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170516221604/https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/the-entire-internet-will-be-archived-in-canada-to-protect-it-from-trump |archive-date=May 16, 2017 |date=November 29, 2016 }}</ref> "is working furiously to capture data before it disappears without any long-term infrastructure to speak of."<ref>{{cite web|last1=LaFrance |first1=Adrienne |title=The Human Fear of Total Knowledge |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2016/06/knowledge-compendia/485507/ |website=The Atlantic |access-date=May 14, 2017 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161202040113/http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2016/06/knowledge-compendia/485507/ |archive-date=December 2, 2016 |date=June 3, 2016 }}</ref> {{wikinews|Data breach and DDOS attacks bring down Wayback Machine}} In September 2024, the Internet Archive suffered a data breach that exposed 31 million records containing personal information, including email addresses and [[Cryptographic hash function|hashed]] passwords.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Shaikh |first=Roshan |date=October 10, 2024 |title=Internet Archive hacked and 31 million user accounts leaked — hacking group 'SN_Blackmeta' claims responsibility |url=https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/cyber-security/internet-archive-hacked-and-31-million-user-accounts-leaked-hacking-group-sn-blackmeta-claims-responsibility |access-date=December 30, 2024 |website=[[Tom's Hardware]]}}</ref> On October 9, 2024, the site went down due to a [[distributed denial-of-service attack]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2024/10/archive-org-a-repository-storing-the-entire-history-of-the-internet-has-been-hacked/|title=Archive.org, a repository of the history of the Internet, has a data breach|last=Goodin|first=Dan|date=October 9, 2024|work=[[Ars Technica]]|archive-url=https://archive.today/20241010115326/https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2024/10/archive-org-a-repository-storing-the-entire-history-of-the-internet-has-been-hacked/|archive-date=October 10, 2024|url-status=live|access-date=October 10, 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Warren |first=Tom |title=The Internet Archive is back as a read-only service after cyberattacks |website=[[The Verge]] |date=October 14, 2024 |url=https://www.theverge.com/2024/10/14/24269741/internet-archive-online-read-only-data-breach-outage |access-date=October 14, 2024}}</ref> On October 14, the site returned online, but it remained in read-only mode until November 4, during which time "Save Page Now" was disabled, replaced with a "Temporarily Unavailable" banner.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://web.archive.org/|title=Wayback Machine Homepage|date=October 24, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241024041605/https://web.archive.org/ |archive-date=October 24, 2024 }}</ref> ==See also== {{Div col}} * [[Anna's Archive]] * [[archive.today]] * [[Heritrix]] * [[Library Genesis]] * [[Link rot]] * [[List of Web archiving initiatives]] * [[Time capsule]] * [[Z-Library]] {{Div col end}} ==Notes== {{notelist}} ==References== {{reflist}} ==External links== {{Commons}} {{Wiktionary|Wayback Machine}} * {{Official website}} * {{Cite video |title=Internet history is fragile. This archive is making sure it doesn't disappear |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8I28erYFLc |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220106023827/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8I28erYFLc |archive-date=January 6, 2022 |url-status=live |work=[[PBS Newshour]] |access-date=5 November 2024}} {{DigitalPreservation}} {{Internet Archive navbox}} [[Category:1996 establishments in California]] [[Category:501(c)(3) organizations]] [[Category:History of the Internet|Archive]] [[Category:Internet Archive projects]] [[Category:Internet properties established in 1996]] [[Category:Non-profit organizations based in San Francisco]] [[Category:Web archiving initiatives]]
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