Where Old Web Sites Go to Die
When a Web site dies, it goes to Web heaven: Archive.org.
The Internet generally has complete disregard for keeping records or charting its past. Once a Web site is gone, it seems to disappear into the digital ether.
With its “Wayback Machine,” however, Archive.org seeks to bring posterity to the Web by archiving Web sites.
The nonprofit site, which has logged more than 55 billion Web pages, was founded by Brewster Kahle in 1996 and collaborates with the Library of Congress and the Smithsonian. It doesn’t index sites that are password-protected or blocked to the public.
The legal admissibility in court of old sites saved by Archive.org is an interesting legal battle likely to emerge more frequently. Earlier this year, a healthcare company named Healthcare Advocates sued Archive.org after it lost a 2003 case that turned on the evidence of Healthcare Advocates’ old Web site, which had been saved on Archive.org.
All of which goes to show, be careful what you type and publish — it might be out there forever.
Photo by richietown.
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