3ff2fed4a4e8f1970e5f95605b0d3bb5
Attack on the Commons Online
Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 4.0
WE first did a video about the Internet Archive (IA) and Wayback Machine early on in 2021 (months after we had started making these videos) because we have some archives there and we make extensive use of the archives. In order to avoid repetition today we revisit the topic and emphasise that the Internet Archive is a highly important site that makes available material in the public domain (without access to it, does it exist?). The copyright cartel does not give, so we must take what's ours to have (it's akin to patent evergreening).
"CNET started published computer-generated garbage and in addition to that it started removing many old articles, including decades-old archives and detailed articles about Microsoft."The IA has long been a convenient way to fight disinformation, especially revisionism (people who burn the past and try to rewrite history, lying about what actually happened). The above video mentions the history of UNIX, BSD, GNU and Linux, taking note of Groklaw.
"Groklaw got squeezed via attacks on PJ [Pamela Jones, the editor] upfront," one associate recalls, whereas the "IA is being attacked over copyright, but I suspect that those attackers really are going after the commons. I also suspect that there is an additional layer underneath that one which wants to completely remove all traces of old magazines and newspapers. Note that some sites have started to go out of their way to delete selected older material."
CNET started published computer-generated garbage and in addition to that it started removing many old articles, including decades-old archives and detailed articles about Microsoft. We covered this earlier this month.
"Google and its allies already put more and more DRM in the Web, gradually denying access to it.""There are several overlapping interests which really try to eliminate the public's awareness of the public domain as well as the public domain commons itself," the associate adds.
What would the Web be like without the Wayback Machine? What would culture be like without Commons or the public domain? What if Fair Use doctrine did not exist at all? The public needs to constantly push back, as time might be running out. Google and its allies already put more and more DRM in the Web, gradually denying access to it. WEI means doom [1, 2, 3, 4] and hopefully a boon/opportunity for alternatives.
We cannot win in information warfare if our information (or our stories) gets deleted all the time. ⬆