Blocking Internet Archive Won't Stop AI, but Will Erase Web's Historical Record (eff.org)

Article summary

The Internet Archive, a digital library, is being blocked by some newspapers, including The New York Times, from crawling their websites, which could erase the web's historical record. The newspapers claim this is to prevent AI companies from scraping their content. However, this move may not stop AI companies and could harm the preservation of historical records. The Internet Archive's mission is to preserve the web and make it accessible to the public.

Main themes

• Internet Archive
• AI content scraping
• newspaper website blocking
• historical record preservation
• fair use
• cyberattack ethics
• anonymity protection
• doxxing prevention

What commenters say

• Blocking the Internet Archive will not stop AI companies from scraping news content, but will harm the preservation of historical records.
• Newspapers have the right to control how their content is used and should be able to block AI companies from scraping their websites.
• The Internet Archive's actions are legitimate and protected by fair use, and newspapers should not block them.
• Using unsuspecting users' internet traffic to commit a cyberattack, such as a DDoS, is unacceptable and violates their consent.
• A journalist trying to dox the creator of an archiving project may be seen as a threat, and defensive actions may be justified.
• The creator of an archiving project has the right to protect their anonymity and take measures to prevent doxxing.
• Non-consensual revealing of someone's identity is a problem, but so is using unsuspecting users' traffic for a DDoS.
• The moral calculus of the situation changes when considering the journalist's intentions and the archivist's defensive actions.