Regarding the current Internet Archive outage

[ConnorTheVGFan78]

I'd like to take a moment and talk about the current situation regarding the Internet Archive. Here's a rundown of what's happened so far, based on info I've seen on news sites + info I've gotten from other sources:

On October 9th, 2024 the Internet Archive suffered not only a massive DDOS attack that took all of its services (Wayback Machine included) offline, but also a data breach that saw the info of nearly 31 million accounts leaked. The breach was first brought to public attention when users began seeing a pop-up when loading any page on the Archive. The pop-up read, "Have you ever felt like the Internet Archive runs on sticks and is constantly on the verge of suffering a catastrophic security breach? It just happened. See 31 million of you on HIBP!" HIBP refers to Have I Been Pwned, a website where you can check your email to see if it was included in a data breach. Internet Archive account data was indeed imported into HIBP following this.

Shortly after the data breach pop-up, the Archive was knocked offline in an apparent DDOS attack, and has remained that way for the PAST SEVERAL DAYS. This current outage of the Archive is one of, if not the longest in its nearly 28 year history. Thankfully, the Internet Archive team has posted regular updates on their progress bringing the Archive back online, saying that the ARCHIVE'S DATA IS SAFE (honestly, with the Archive's collection being almost 100 Petabytes in size, it would have taken forever for the most advanced file removal software to get through scanning and mapping it all out before even thinking about deleting it) and it may be a few more days until the Archive comes back online, citing the need to take time to upgrade their internal systems.

Here's some of the sources I got this info from:
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/change-your-passwords-attackers-claim-a-catastrophic-security-breach-of-the-internet-archive-with-31-million-emails-and-hashed-passwords-captured/
https://www.theverge.com/2024/10/11/24268040/internet-archive-data-breach-outage-hacked

I'd like to hear the thoughts of fellow forum members regarding this situation, since the Internet Archive (and the Wayback Machine especially) is a valuable resource that we've all used at one point or another. Personally, as a huge fan of Media and Internet Preservation, this hurts to watch the Archive be down for so long. The Internet Archive is such a valuable resource for all, both with its collection of digitized traditional media and its massive collection of archived websites on the Wayback Machine. I'm hoping the Archive comes back online soon, the fact that someone would willing take it down and attack it just doesn't feel right.

[Cobra!]

Honestly, I'm glad the data is safe. The data being gone would likely be the modern Library of Alexandria!

It makes me realise how much we rely on it and how it's a single point of failure. Perhaps we should have other archive websites/charities as backup in case it goes down. Having multiple archive sites would also make it harder for record labels and publishers to sue, as there would be more targets to hit.

Though that brings up another concern. I remember hearing in a video that it takes a lot of power to store all of that data and accessing it at any time. I think it's a very good reason to use the power but I think it's definitely a concern, especially since we no longer have any major carbon sinks. I'm certain the for-profit corporations trying to take the IA down are even worse, but it's something to take into account.

I can't help but feel that trying to DDoS the Internet Archive is a serious low. As low trying to rob a charity. Like your life must be very meaningless if you're willing to do something nobody with a wage lower than 10 figures is going to like. Frankly, this person should be a laughing stock of the world.

[Melooon]

I've found the whole situation quite unsettling  They made a very similar statement to what I say about the forum closing on Mondays when they described how the archive is closed right now (essentially saying its closed like a physical library might be) - however the circumstances are so different, they didn't choose to close, they were bullied into closing by malicious forces of evil in the world 

I talk often about the impermanence of the web, and the value of archiving and the value of being able to move on and let things go; but to see that play out in real time much sooner than I ever anticipated ~ and on such a huge scale; its quite shocking. It's also left me feeling quite helpless because there's simply nothing I personally can do to help in this case; I don't have money to donate, or influence to rally support, or technical skills that would be worth volunteering ~ and frankly the people running the archive don't need any of that, they just need time to sort things out.

In time, the archive will come back online, and hopefully it will be stronger and better guarded than before ~ however it does leave me with a sense of fragility, not just about this archive, but about the web infrastructure as a whole. I think in some ways that I've not fully processed this will change my approach to the web and how I look at projects from now on.

As Cobra says; I think the world needs to start taking the idea of data preservation much more seriously; there should not just be one Internet Archive, there should be one in every country, maybe even every city. 

[1dkreally]

just within the past couple days, i've already run into multiple issues due to a lack of access to the wayback machine.

i highly agree with what others have said, we desperately need more than a singular internet archive. i especially agree with the comparison to the library of alexandria, having all of this information and these services in just one place isn't healthy for internet archival and freedom and i think this situation has proven that. i really hope some people out there will be able to take the time and effort into creating more internet archives :{

[ThunderPerfectWitchcraft]

Both archive.org, the Wikipedia (and also other parts of the internet that exist mostly in the wake of the opensource free-software movement) are really glitches within our world: They are humanist in the true sense of the word, as they try to improve universal education and allow emancipated information without aiming for the generation of profit.

All of such "institutions" are a thorn in the flesh of the mighty all over the world - people being able to access information through their own agenda makes it harder to lie to them, and thus to manipulate them. Both the Wikipedia (in this case: Mainly through manipulation and sponsored editing) and the archive (often over the copyright-angle) were attacked for this reason from various sources. The current attack on the archive seems to be carried out by a group belonging to the Kreml, but seeing that the same group also attacked TikTok (which is a instrument in the toolkit of China, and so basically belongs to a state allied to Russia), this might just be a false-flag as well - we will never know.

Keeping these institutions, and especially the idea behind them alive is of high importance. Ideas like decentralization (as in the indieweb) or even stuff like P2P hosting might help here, but one should always be aware that technical innovation can never compensate for problems within our social development: The tensions that we see both within the internet and within our everyday life are at large caused by the increasing tensions over natural resources and power, and of the social inequality that is at work at every level (both factors are tightly interlocked). Independent media is only a puzzle piece in resolving those problems, that will be burned up if we don't manage it to be effective in other areas.

[DeltaFrost]

I concur with most of what you are all saying here. Using the internet archive hasn't been a part of my standard web use over the years, but as others have said to lose this resource entirely would be devastating. I wish that events like this would encourage our government/systems to take action in funding and building similar projects for the good of all, but for the reasons ThunderPerfectWitchcraft mentioned it's hard to see that happening.

[bingus_baby]

https://archive.ph is a decent solution for archiving web pages. But it's also just that, web pages. The library is nowhere as extensive as the Wayback machine, but it does have some cool stuff tucked in there.

As for IA's files system, they do support torrents which makes sure that some files are saved on multiple machines. (It's also faster than browser downloads most of the time.) And I think every file on the site is saved on one main network, as even the unpopular torrent files always have one computer connected. (Until a few days ago lol)

I do agree that it alone being the web's archive is a bit dangerous. But I'd almost be apprehensive of any new sites to come around, as it's hard for someone to stand the test of time like IA has. I'm too used to watching startups and projects crash and burn, so I'll probably stand by the IA until the doors shut for good. I've seen too many users lose their supposedly "safe" data to websites that shuttered out of nowhere. It would take someone with serious credibility, charisma, dedication, and a LOTS of hard disks to even dream of rivaling IA. It could happen! But it would be very, very hard.

Sorry to be negative! But the talk of new service-based websites always gets me doubtful.

[Eunice]

I need my eyes checked. I read that as "regarding the current Internet Archive outrage". Not the same thing at all!

I am angry about faceless and shall we say, mindless people trying to destroy instead of learning how to create. Next time the archive advertises for donations, I will damn well donate. They do a grand job,

[ConnorTheVGFan78]

Got an update on this: The Wayback Machine is back online!!!

Other Internet Archive services are still down, but it's good that we got The Wayback Machine back!! One catch though: Wayback Machine is in read-only mode for the time being, so new web page captures cannot be saved.

[garystu]

Websites go down and come back up again all the time. I don't think its a big deal.

This also happens to corperate websites. Didn't Minecraft Realms go down and come back earlier this year? Even with Microsoft infrastructure, web hosting is just tricky and fickle and goes down sometimes.

Its not a big deal. Could mean nothing.

One catch though: Wayback Machine is in read-only mode for the time being, so new web page captures cannot be saved.

Perfect time to do something silly online and then delete fucking everything. Do a little trolling on main, quick!

[Cobra!]

It seems they got hacked again...

I'm getting really worried about the whole situation, it's like people who hate the IA are just out for blood and are trying to finish it off while it's vulnerable.

Thankfully the data is still apparently safe, but I think we need to seriously consider decentralising archives to avoid disaster...

[xixxii]

It seems they got hacked again...

I'm getting really worried about the whole situation, it's like people who hate the IA are just out for blood and are trying to finish it off while it's vulnerable.

Thankfully the data is still apparently safe, but I think we need to seriously consider decentralising archives to avoid disaster...

no, they did not get hacked "again"; this linked post is an update on how they are recovering from the hack that this thread is about. the archive has been down for so long because they are taking time to carefully check things over and upgrade security; it is down so as not to be vulnerable.

additionally, the internet archive has multiple backups of its data in multiple locations across the world; the data is safe and decentralized already. they take their mission as an archive seriously.

[Cobra!]

Well, I saw this video by SomeOrdinaryGamers reporting on it.

additionally, the internet archive has multiple backups of its data in multiple locations across the world; the data is safe and decentralized already. they take their mission as an archive seriously.

Well that's a relief, then!

[plasticseaslug]

It's really upsetting to not be able to use the Internet Archive. I use it a ton to find media I can't find from more mainstream sources.  I hope there's a way to get it back up safely soon.
I suppose it's forcing me to be more resourceful when it comes to trying to find archived media, though, especially when it comes to games.

[plasticseaslug]

Perfect time to do something silly online and then delete fucking everything. Do a little trolling on main, quick!

Oh, man. Imagine being the only person that witnessed somebody doing that on their site. You'd immediately turn into the Web version of the town kook.