Internet Archive Gets Canadian Back-Up Thanks To Political Fears

The Internet Archive is to build a back-up copy in Canada. The site’s staff said it was a response to fears of greater online restrictions in the US following the election result.

While the announcement did not specifically name president-elect Donald Trump, it said:

On November 9^th 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 archive is best known for its collection of more than 150 billion web pages archives across different dates as a historical record. It also contains huge collections of multimedia files including audio, video and software.

Appealing for donations to fund the Canadian back-up, founder Brewster Kahle said one goal was that “no one will ever be able to change the past just because there is no digital record of it.” While he didn’t address specific politicians, Kahle noted the value of the site having a dedicated archive of Political TV ads that journalists could use for fact-checking.