Some of the most iconic 9/11 news coverage is lost. Blame Adobe Flash

http://lite.cnn.com/en/article/h_a2cc7480e8790924979df5c3f15869f8

by nrsapt • 5 years ago

13 5 5 years ago

lite.cnn.com

torstenvl• 5 years ago

If the swf file is available on the Internet Archive, why not download and convert with HandBrake?

TheGoddessInari• 5 years ago

It says they're talking about interactive pieces. Doesn't sound like something handbrake would handle.

pope_meat• 5 years ago

Marion Stokes probably recorded a VHS tape of the news. Her estate left tens of thousands of tapes of TV news from 1970 to 2012. It's probably not lost, but it will take a while to digitize it all.

rchaud• 5 years ago

"This is really about the problem of what I call the boneyard of the internet. Everything that's not a piece of text or a flat picture is basically destined to rot and die when new methods of delivering the content replace it," Pacheco told CNN Business. "I just feel like the internet is rotting at an even faster pace, ironically, because of innovation. It shouldn't."

I'd hardly call it "innovation". A single SWF file from 20 years ago will run on a Flash player with all assets stored inside a single file. Try archiving a modern JS-based interactive story (the NYT publishes loads) that requires 10 scripts, React, and CDN-served fonts and images to work.

proc0• 5 years ago

Huh? Is this real? I used to write ActionScript, and Flash became obsolete, but it's not ancient alien technology.

Did they lose the files? Then it's not about Flash. This has a strong B.S. smell, but I guess they're trying to fool non-tech people. We can emulate NES and Atari games, Flash is no problem.

And what a coincidence huh? Welp, guess we lost this incredibly important time in history... talk about feeding conspiracy theories, they're going to be all over this.

Some of the most iconic 9/11 news coverage is lost. Blame Adobe Flash

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