The Internet Archive’s fight to save itself.
Legal battles with publishers Hachette and the Universal Music Group threaten to destroy this priceless repository of media history, which includes the Wayback Machine and a lot more.
Founder Brewster Kahle made a fortune in the 90s dotcom boom, and funneled much of that money into the Internet Archive (though it should be noted that he’s not living like he’s taken a vow of poverty — he owns a sailboat and docks it at a “tony yacht club.")
Kate Knibbs reports at Wired:
“The story of Brewster Kahle is that of a guy who wins the lottery,” says longtime archivist Jason Scott. “And he and his wife, Mary, turned around and said, awesome, we get to be librarians now.”
The day I read this article, Sunday, I had previously downloaded a 1948 issue of the pulp sci-fi magazine Astounding Stories so I could re-read a story there that I loved when I was about 12 years old, “Dreams Are Sacred,” by Peter Phillips.
The Internet Archive needs to be preserved, and if that means passing a special law to protect it, then so be it. The shareholders in Hachette and Universal Music Group can pay for it by skipping a day polishing the gold toilets in their mansions.