OT: Internet Archive hacked

[fiamme red]

It’s my favorite website, the one I use most. Currently I’m doing some research on an historical subject, and having online access to many digitized books and documents from the 19th and early 20th centuries has been invaluable to me. I contribute regularly to the website during its fundraising drives because I feel that it’s irreplaceable.

It’s a very sad world when hackers would do something like this. I pray that the IA is able to recoup and get back online.

[dan_hudson]

I use it every month or two. The Wayback feature in particular is super-awesome. Will be a big loss if they cannot recover.

[fiamme red]

Originally Posted by dan_hudson

I use it every month or two. The Wayback feature in particular is super-awesome. Will be a big loss if they cannot recover.

There was an article a few weeks ago about how Wayback Machine is saving the Internet from “digital rot.”

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/2...e-the-internet

According to a Pew study, 38% of webpages that existed on 2013 were no longer accessible a decade later.

[bigbill]

I'm finishing a military history thesis for my 2nd MA. Can you get an @edu address to access a college library? I prepare curriculum for graduate level history classes, particularly in information warfare, so I keep my access as a contract employee.

[unterhausen]

I used the wayback machine recently to look at the Henry James site. I probably have their paper catalog, but I'm not sure I could find it. Sad that someone felt like hacking it. Hack amazon or something.

[slowpoke]

Small request: if you ever download any bike component manuals or catalogs, also upload them to the Internet Archive!

There used to be a vintagelotusbicycles.com catalog site that went down. Would've been nice had the owner also mirrored their collection on the Internet Archive.

[unterhausen]

It's not accessible right now

[smontanaro]

The status message on Bluesky as of about 10 hours ago indicates it is a distributed denial of service attack (DDoS) and that the data is safe. My first thought was that no doubt the archive is backed up.

[blew]

Looks like they expect service to be back up within days as they evaluate and upgrade systems. Thankfully as mentioned, the data is safe.

[glepore]

Phew, the Grateful Dead shows are safe. LMA is a treasure.
.

[rice rocket]

Originally Posted by unterhausen

Sad that someone felt like hacking it. Hack amazon or something.

My guess is a political party trying to rewrite history.

[fiamme red]

Wayback Machine is back as read-only service. I'm hoping that the entire archive is back up very soon!

[bigbill]

Originally Posted by rice rocket

My guess is a political party trying to rewrite history.

There are multiple accounts linking the hack to a pro Palestinian group. I question that, but I don't suspect any political party in the U.S. This past week, I was at a information warfare symposium at Norwich University where I presented a paper on information warfare in a historical context. The current players are Russia, China, North Korea, and Iran. The objective is to create division in the U.S. Claiming to be pro Palestinian drives a wedge in the nation coming into the fall election. A Pro Palestinian stance works against the Democrats in the eyes of Republicans, but it is more subtle than a direct attack against any particular party. Outside players know the nation is almost evenly split so it only takes a nudge to influence elections.

[Hilltopwalters]

Originally Posted by bigbill

There are multiple accounts linking the hack to a pro Palestinian group. I question that, but I don't suspect any political party in the U.S. This past week, I was at a information warfare symposium at Norwich University where I presented a paper on information warfare in a historical context. The current players are Russia, China, North Korea, and Iran. The objective is to create division in the U.S. Claiming to be pro Palestinian drives a wedge in the nation coming into the fall election. A Pro Palestinian stance works against the Democrats in the eyes of Republicans, but it is more subtle than a direct attack against any particular party. Outside players know the nation is almost evenly split so it only takes a nudge to influence elections.

I've been studying this for the better part of two years and it's pretty wild how good they've gotten at swaying public opinion in the U.S. Many online users are at their mercy given how low digital literacy and critical thinking skills are in this country. Couple that with the volatility of the political landscape and you have what Lincoln worried about all those years ago. I do not want this thread to get political as that is against the rules but in your opinion what are the options for dealing with cyber warfare and disinformation campaigns like this? There's a historical event I'm reminded of that during the time of first Russian Revolution, Germany financed huge printing press operations in Russia for Lenin in order to spread propaganda against the Czar and other political/aristocratic parties in order to weaken Russian.

[bigbill]

Originally Posted by Hilltopwalters

I've been studying this for the better part of two years and it's pretty wild how good they've gotten at swaying public opinion in the U.S. Many online users are at their mercy given how low digital literacy and critical thinking skills are in this country. Couple that with the volatility of the political landscape and you have what Lincoln worried about all those years ago. I do not want this thread to get political as that is against the rules but in your opinion what are the options for dealing with cyber warfare and disinformation campaigns like this? There's a historical event I'm reminded of that during the time of first Russian Revolution, Germany financed huge printing press operations in Russia for Lenin in order to spread propaganda against the Czar and other political/aristocratic parties in order to weaken Russian.

The problem is; it's not illegal. The only right way to fight disinformation is with the truth, the but you must first disprove the lie. And if the lie is deeply ingrained in our culture or plays on confirmation bias, it's tougher. All we can really do is be informed consumers of information to question what we read and see. If people would stop getting their news off social media, that would be a good start.