Internet Archive is now a federal depository library

https://www.kqed.org/news/12049420/sf-based-internet-archive-is-now-a-federal-depository-library-what-does-that-mean

by XnoiVeX • 12 months ago

322 57 12 months ago

kqed.org

https://blog.archive.org/2025/07/24/internet-archive-designa...

MPSimmons• 12 months ago

Is it likely that the Executive Branch would try to exert control over it to remove "inconvenient" data?

ranger_danger• 12 months ago

Imagine having to delete their 100PB of warez.

rwmj• 12 months ago

Wait til you hear about my local library. You can walk in and read or borrow any book without paying!

BSOhealth• 12 months ago

given this is already happening with many other taxpayer funded datasets, will pretty on brand with this group

jahewson• 12 months ago

Doubtful. They’re not part of the government so the 1st amendment applies.

odo1242• 12 months ago

I mean, what would they do to exert control? Remove their federal depository status?

layman51• 12 months ago

They already remove “inconvenient” webpages on the Wayback Machine if someone asks nicely enough. If I remember correctly, if you use it to save a software company’s documentation pages or evidence of something embarrassing like a potential data breach, they could remove it if the company asks. I think Oracle might have done something like this before.

01HNNWZ0MV43FF• 12 months ago

If anyone reading knows an easy way to download and mirror IA pages please make it easier to find. A bot told me they offer downloads of the underlying WARC files but I could not find it

tech234a• 12 months ago

A community-maintained list collecting examples of such exclusions: https://wiki.archiveteam.org/index.php/List_of_websites_excl...

genter• 12 months ago

Can't say I blame them, I wouldn't want to go up against Oracle's lawyers either.

chrisg232• 12 months ago

I've heard it has already happened. Specifically the internet archive removed vidoes of the TempleOS developer Terry Davis' live streams because of problematic content.

If the internet archive is already curated for content then yeah there is a 100% chance that there will be more curation of content.

jazzyjackson• 12 months ago

Kiwifarms as well. They are a bit of a pushover when it comes to controversy.

toomuchtodo2• 12 months ago

It's a one way street. This provides more access to materials held by the federal gov for ingest into IA's storage system. Bit of a policy interconnect, if you will. Reminder to donate to the Archive.

themgt• 12 months ago

If you see a bank that says "federally chartered" or "federal deposit insurance corporation", stay clear!

ChrisArchitect• 12 months ago

Official post: https://blog.archive.org/2025/07/24/internet-archive-designa... (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44677535)

m3kw9• 12 months ago

do we need an internet archive, archive now?

ironmagma2• 12 months ago

I’m down to join this effort if anyone else wants to retire row in the same direction.

doener• 12 months ago

Back in the days when things were sane my first thought reading this headline would have been: Nice, that‘s sounds official and important. Nowadays my first thought is: Wait, does this mean Trump can mess around with this?

dsadfjasdf• 12 months ago

yes trump is on the computer messing around with this

stillwzcited• 12 months ago

I’m still excited about it.

I hope that all of the world libraries join with the internet archive into a global cooperative.

I also hope there is a secret sub-basement in a different dimension that contains powerful artifacts, guarded by a master librarian.

A man can dream can’t he?

bigstrat2003• 12 months ago

That says more about you than it says about the times, I'm afraid. Your first thought should still be the former, not the latter.

bdhcuidbebe• 12 months ago

Read the news, bro.

herbst• 12 months ago

Wouldn't be the first time in history a falling empire tries to control the narrative by burning books

lucb1e2• 12 months ago

I'm having trouble finding what this means. Does IA now have new obligations, or gets new information, or something else, or all of the above?

The submission says:

These records account for “millions and millions of pages” that can take up entire floors of public libraries, Kahle said. San Diego’s public library gave up its federal depository status in 2020 because its government documents took up so much space and often went unused. [...] The GPO [...] has ramped up efforts to digitize the Federal Depository Library Program.

Does IA now have to store floors upon floors of paper copies of information, at least until it got digitized? Or are they now merely obliged to host the digital materials insofar as they already exist? That sounds like what they are doing already for the whole web, and also apparently since 2022 when they started "Democracy’s Library, a free online compendium of government research and publications", just that now they're legally obliged to do this or something?

What I find on doi.gov[1] is "The mission of Federal depository libraries is to provide local, free access to information from the Federal government" and nothing really further on what this concretely means. Sounds like just an obligation though?

What I find on gpo.gov[2] is "The Federal Depository Library Program [ensures] that the American public has access to Government information in depository libraries". Could mean anything. The program ensures that, but let's assume that means the designated libraries ensure that, so then do these libraries get extra info that the public doesn't get (but in order to disseminate them to the public)? Makes no sense either

The GPO page and the submission also say that "Members of Congress may designate up to two qualified libraries." Did they get picked and now it's IA's obligation, or did IA ask for this? What do they get out of it?

[1] https://www.doi.gov/library/collections/federal-documents

[2] https://www.gpo.gov/how-to-work-with-us/agency/services-for-...

abracadaniel• 12 months ago

As I understand it, it’s voluntary and like the government document version of the Twitter firehose. Direct access to all published government documents as they are created.

lucb1e2• 12 months ago

So like a semi-public endpoint, that the libraries can access but not the general public, and then the public should get it from the libraries? Seems roundabout but it fits with what I've read so far

bmurray7jhu• 12 months ago

Unneeded materials from other depository libraries can now be transferred to the Internet Archive. Under 44 USC § 1912, depository libraries may dispose of outdated material, but must first offer to transfer to nearby depository institutions.

dylan604• 12 months ago

What is "outdated material" for a library? Isn't that precisely where you go to find "outdated material" is a library's archives?

ocdtrekkie2• 12 months ago

Libraries have an entire concept of weeding, and numerous criteria for doing so: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weeding_(library)

Libraries are constantly bringing in new materials and very few are capable of constantly increasing in size to match. I believe national libraries like the Library of Congress tend not to weed, but they do have to offload material to satellite locations and storage facilities.

chpatrick• 12 months ago

Stuff like the printed tax code of 1965 or Borland Pascal 1992 manual. Once you have it digitized it's a waste of space for libraries to have a physical copy because basically no one needs it.

JumpCrisscross• 12 months ago

"California Sen. Alex Padilla made the designation in a letter sent Thursday to the Government Publishing Office"

What does this mean. U.S. Senators can unilaterally designate federal depositories?

ssalka• 12 months ago

It sounds like it was at the request of IA:

"...in response to the enclosed letter I received from the Founder and Digital Librarian of the Internet Archive, Mr. Brewster Kahle, I am designating the Internet Archive as a federal depository library in California."

Which seems a lot more agreeable than unilateral designation (which is also how I initially read this).

permo-w• 12 months ago

a small scroll:

Under federal law, members of Congress can designate up to two qualified libraries for federal depository status.

ocdtrekkie2• 12 months ago

My take on this is that in desperation to become a real library despite Kahle's radical hatred of content creators, Kahle will end up dragging the legislative narrative in a direction that takes down real libraries with him. He will almost certainly broadcast his status as a federal depository library as part of his defenses in his numerous lawsuits.

One selfish man unwilling to recognize he is doing more harm than good.

toomuchtodo2• 12 months ago

They were already recognized by the state of California as a library, and have received federal funds for infrastructure under that designation. They’ve also been accepted into consortiums made up of other libraries in the US. Whether you believe they’re a library is immaterial.

badlibrarian6• 12 months ago

A federal Judge also ruled that "IA does not perform the traditional functions of a library."

https://publishers.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/2024.09.04...

Brewster has a friend in a state senator and he's trying to do what he can to preserve his section 108 privileges. He's removed over a million items in the past year after being repeatedly sued for copyright infringement, and leaked millions of private communications with patrons including passports and driver licenses. That's the undercurrent here.

Egos aside, the goal isn't to be a library: it's providing access to knowledge. But when your site is on the blocklist at public library terminals because you keep getting flagged for copyright violations and child pornography, maybe you're not on the path.

bahmboo• 12 months ago

"radical hatred of content creators" is a very harsh and specific allegation. I wasn't aware that Kahle was considered such a bad actor. I did some googling and wikipedia-ing and can't see much that supports that claim. I am very open minded to the nuances of IP rights vs information-wants-to-be-free so I'd love to hear more details about your position particularly as it relates to the federal depository designation.

badlibrarian6• 12 months ago

Making every book on the site available for unlimited download, not just rare things but contemporary best sellers, did huge reputational damage. Following it up by claiming he was saving scratchy old 78 RPM records, but in the process also making LPs from Paul McCartney and Jimi Hendrix available, continued the trend.

Tweeting out promotional links to the pages with those materials, while asking for donations on the top of the page? Well, I don't know if that's contempt for artists or just lack of common sense. But when they ask you to take down the material and you refuse...

The depository thing is a distraction. And they do have a habit of sensationalizing things in blog posts. So I understand where that commenter is coming from. Internet Archive is under attack from many sides but much of it is self-inflicted.

ironmagma2• 12 months ago

If only they’d hire some more people to get their search function working.

Internet Archive is now a federal depository library

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