Earlier this month, a targeted hack on the Internet Archive threatened billions of archived web pages and a comprehensive digital history of the world, exposing data from over 30 million users.

The site operates a database called the ‘Wayback Machine’ archiving snapshots of over 800 billion web pages, even after they have been altered or deleted. 

The site was temporarily taken down following the breach, and the attacks have raised questions about the significance of digital cultural materials, and the potential worst-case scenario if our historical internet records were to be erased forever.

Story supplied by 4ZZZ

Image: Image: Ralf Muehlen (Left – Wikimedia Commons) & Engin Akyurt (Right – Pexels)

Produced By: Toni Pankaluic

Featured In Story: Professor George Buchanan- Deputy Dean, RMIT School of Computing Technologies

First aired on The Wire, Monday 28 October 2024