The Internet Archive has announced that it will make a copy of its digital collections in Canada after Donald Trump’s successful bid for the presidency.
Even the Internet Archive is all jitters after Republican candidate Donald Trump secured the US Presidency – the Archive has announced that it plans to make a copy of its digital collections in Canada to best secure the chronicled history of the web.
“œThe history of libraries is one of loss. The Library of Alexandria is best known for is disappearance… Libraries are susceptible to different fault lines: earthquakes, legal regimes, and institutional failure”, the organization said in a press statement.
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“œSo this year, we have set a new goal: to create a copy of Internet Archive‘s digital collections in another country… We are building the Internet Archive of Canada because, to quote our friends at Lockss, lots of copies keep stuff safe.“
Founder Brewster Kahle cited that “œOn November 9th in America, we woke up to a new administration promising radical change… it was a firm reminder that institutions like ours, built for the long-term, need to design for change. For us, it means keeping our cultural materials safe, private and perpetually accessible. It means preparing for a web that may face greater restrictions. It means serving patrons in a world in which government surveillance is not going away; indeed it looks like it will increase.“
The Internet Archive itself, housed in San Francisco in the US, held 100 petabytes of data in 2012. The Archive contains software programs, video games, and caches of old websites available on the Wayback Machine, and represents one of the best chronicles of web history around.
Kahle estimates that it will cost millions of US dollars to secure a copy in Canada, but will do so in a bid to shield any information contained in the Archive from legal action emanating from the US.
The future of Trump’s administration remains uncertain – the US President-Elect has notably supported greater surveillance powers (mirrored by similar introductions around the globe, such as the Snoopers’ Charter) and has made his own push into consumer technology by punting his assertion that Apple should be made to manufacture its products in the US – even going so far as to offer the Cupertino company a ‘very large tax cut’ should they do so.
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What are your thoughts on the Internet Archive’s decision to back up its records in Canada? Be sure to let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
Follow Bryan Smith on Twitter: @bryansmithSA
