The Coolest Thing on the Internet Is Moving to Canada

Alexandre Marchi/Zuma
A year ago, Donald Trump said he would consider closing off parts of the internet.
"We're losing a lot of people because of the internet, and we have to do something," he told a crowd while campaigning at the U.S.S. Yorktown in South Carolina. "We have to go see Bill Gates and a lot of different people…about, maybe in certain areas, closing the internet up in some way. Somebody will say, 'Oh, freedom of speech! Freedom of speech! These are foolish people…We've got to do something with the internet."
A week later, during the CNN Republican presidential debate, Wolf Blitzer asked Trump if "closing the internet" might put the United States "in line with China and North Korea"—two countries known to censor the online world. Trump responded that groups like ISIS are using the web to take our "young impressionable youth" and that he "sure as hell [doesn't] want to let people that want to kill us and kill our nation use our internet."
So now, as Trump prepares to take office, a number of internet-freedom activists are worried he may make good on these campaign promises. They include Brewster Kahle, the founder of the San Francisco-based Internet Archive, one of the biggest online libraries in the world that curates 279 billion web pages, 2.9 million films and videos, 3.1 million recordings, and much more. Part of the Internet Archive is the Wayback Machine, a search engine for past incarnations of web pages, some of which are no longer accessible. In a FAQ posted to the Internet Archive blog last weekend, Kahle wrote that the Internet Archive had been planning a partial backup in Canada. But Trump's statements on the campaign trail and his election as president "ramped us into higher gear, moving us further and faster than we would have. The election led us to think bigger."
"On November 9th in America, we woke up to a new administration promising radical change," Kahle wrote in a statement on November 29. "It was a firm reminder that institutions like ours, built for the long-term, need to design for change…t means preparing for a Web that may face greater restrictions."
In an interview with Mother Jones, Kahle said that after the election, his staff went through the archives to see what Trump had said about the internet and freedom of speech. They found several instances of troubling talk from Trump in which he called for restricting parts of the internet and attacked the press for reporting on his behavior. When your business is to preserve a record of the internet as a historical record, a president who might restrict it is an existential threat.
"At this point it seemed prudent to at least take him at his word," Kahle said. "If something goes down, and he said this was what he was going to do, shame on us."
"At this point it seemed prudent to at least take him at his word," Kahle told Mother Jones. "If something goes down, and he said this was what he was going to do, shame on us."
So instead of building out a partial backup of the entire Internet Archive in Canada, as they had originally planned, Kahle and his team are now moving forward with a full duplication of their work based in Canada. The group already has partial backups in Alexandria, Egypt, and Amsterdam, but Kahle says the $5 million Canadian project is designed to be not just a backup, but "another node in an international library system."
In recent segment on The Rachel Maddow Show, Maddow described the Internet Archive as an invaluable tool for researchers, journalists, and everybody who wants to preserve history with reports and data that are only accessible through the Wayback Machine. Vice President-elect Mike Pence's first congressional campaign platform document—that included a call for the government to shift AIDS research funding and put it toward curing people from being gay—can no longer be found through a Google search. Trump's use of a government presidential transition web page to showcase his properties around the world was taken down shortly after it appeared but can still be accessed through the Wayback Machine.
Kahle said another example was a press release that came out during the George W. Bush administration after the famous speech he delivered under the "Mission Accomplished" banner, announcing that all combat operations in Iraq had ended. That release was soon amended before being pulled down altogether. But the Wayback Machine preserved the controversial moment for history.
"People remember that particular event," Kahle said. "Having it switch from 'Yeah, we're done here,' to 'Well, we're still there,' and 'Let's not talk about that anymore,' all happening with that one press release from WhiteHouse.gov I think is kind of a useful lesson in Orwellian editing."
Giving the government the ability to access all communications is part of the general discussion of restricting what can and can't be done online, and what is preserved for posterity. FBI Director James Comey has spoken aggressively in favor of limiting encryption technology and allowing the government "backdoors" into communications, and a bipartisan group of senators—including Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.)—seem open to mandating government access to communications over phones or the internet. Trump himself has called for a boycott of Apple products after the company got into a very public fight with the FBI, when the FBI wanted Apple to write software to break its own iPhone encryption following the 2015 San Bernardino attack. To Kahle, this provides further impetus for complete backups of his archive in other countries.
"There’s a lot of laws that are put in place that have built the world that we have," Kahle said. "And to the extent that those are going to be up for grabs, then we can end up with a very different world."
The Trump transition team and his spokesperson, Hope Hicks, did not respond to questions about his policies toward free speech on the internet.
As The Ringer’s Alyssa Bereznak put it the day before the election, Trump’s mastery of social media aside, "he has shown little understanding of the infrastructure behind the online tools that have extended his reach." He jokingly asked Russia to find Hillary Clinton's 33,000 deleted emails and said he wished he "had [the] power" to hack the Democratic National Committee. And there’s also Trump's alleged history of listening in on phone calls involving staff at Mar-A-Lago, an allegation Hicks denied when asked by BuzzFeed. As for weaponizing the internet via cyberwarfare, Trump has described the United States as "obsolete" and called for a ramping up of US government capabilities.
"The first thing to do is listen to what people say they want to do. And when they say things like they want to close up part of the internet…that sort of thing is a big change to how the internet structure could work," Kahle said. "Who knows what will exactly happen, but we're starting with his words."
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/12/internet-freedom-wayback-machine-moving-copy-to-canada-donald-trump
We talked to the head of this major online library to find out why.
AJ VicensDec. 10, 2016 6:00 AM
Alexandre Marchi/Zuma
A year ago, Donald Trump said he would consider closing off parts of the internet.
"We're losing a lot of people because of the internet, and we have to do something," he told a crowd while campaigning at the U.S.S. Yorktown in South Carolina. "We have to go see Bill Gates and a lot of different people…about, maybe in certain areas, closing the internet up in some way. Somebody will say, 'Oh, freedom of speech! Freedom of speech! These are foolish people…We've got to do something with the internet."
A week later, during the CNN Republican presidential debate, Wolf Blitzer asked Trump if "closing the internet" might put the United States "in line with China and North Korea"—two countries known to censor the online world. Trump responded that groups like ISIS are using the web to take our "young impressionable youth" and that he "sure as hell [doesn't] want to let people that want to kill us and kill our nation use our internet."
So now, as Trump prepares to take office, a number of internet-freedom activists are worried he may make good on these campaign promises. They include Brewster Kahle, the founder of the San Francisco-based Internet Archive, one of the biggest online libraries in the world that curates 279 billion web pages, 2.9 million films and videos, 3.1 million recordings, and much more. Part of the Internet Archive is the Wayback Machine, a search engine for past incarnations of web pages, some of which are no longer accessible. In a FAQ posted to the Internet Archive blog last weekend, Kahle wrote that the Internet Archive had been planning a partial backup in Canada. But Trump's statements on the campaign trail and his election as president "ramped us into higher gear, moving us further and faster than we would have. The election led us to think bigger."
"On November 9th in America, we woke up to a new administration promising radical change," Kahle wrote in a statement on November 29. "It was a firm reminder that institutions like ours, built for the long-term, need to design for change…t means preparing for a Web that may face greater restrictions."
In an interview with Mother Jones, Kahle said that after the election, his staff went through the archives to see what Trump had said about the internet and freedom of speech. They found several instances of troubling talk from Trump in which he called for restricting parts of the internet and attacked the press for reporting on his behavior. When your business is to preserve a record of the internet as a historical record, a president who might restrict it is an existential threat.
"At this point it seemed prudent to at least take him at his word," Kahle said. "If something goes down, and he said this was what he was going to do, shame on us."
"At this point it seemed prudent to at least take him at his word," Kahle told Mother Jones. "If something goes down, and he said this was what he was going to do, shame on us."
So instead of building out a partial backup of the entire Internet Archive in Canada, as they had originally planned, Kahle and his team are now moving forward with a full duplication of their work based in Canada. The group already has partial backups in Alexandria, Egypt, and Amsterdam, but Kahle says the $5 million Canadian project is designed to be not just a backup, but "another node in an international library system."
In recent segment on The Rachel Maddow Show, Maddow described the Internet Archive as an invaluable tool for researchers, journalists, and everybody who wants to preserve history with reports and data that are only accessible through the Wayback Machine. Vice President-elect Mike Pence's first congressional campaign platform document—that included a call for the government to shift AIDS research funding and put it toward curing people from being gay—can no longer be found through a Google search. Trump's use of a government presidential transition web page to showcase his properties around the world was taken down shortly after it appeared but can still be accessed through the Wayback Machine.
Kahle said another example was a press release that came out during the George W. Bush administration after the famous speech he delivered under the "Mission Accomplished" banner, announcing that all combat operations in Iraq had ended. That release was soon amended before being pulled down altogether. But the Wayback Machine preserved the controversial moment for history.
"People remember that particular event," Kahle said. "Having it switch from 'Yeah, we're done here,' to 'Well, we're still there,' and 'Let's not talk about that anymore,' all happening with that one press release from WhiteHouse.gov I think is kind of a useful lesson in Orwellian editing."
Giving the government the ability to access all communications is part of the general discussion of restricting what can and can't be done online, and what is preserved for posterity. FBI Director James Comey has spoken aggressively in favor of limiting encryption technology and allowing the government "backdoors" into communications, and a bipartisan group of senators—including Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.)—seem open to mandating government access to communications over phones or the internet. Trump himself has called for a boycott of Apple products after the company got into a very public fight with the FBI, when the FBI wanted Apple to write software to break its own iPhone encryption following the 2015 San Bernardino attack. To Kahle, this provides further impetus for complete backups of his archive in other countries.
"There’s a lot of laws that are put in place that have built the world that we have," Kahle said. "And to the extent that those are going to be up for grabs, then we can end up with a very different world."
The Trump transition team and his spokesperson, Hope Hicks, did not respond to questions about his policies toward free speech on the internet.
As The Ringer’s Alyssa Bereznak put it the day before the election, Trump’s mastery of social media aside, "he has shown little understanding of the infrastructure behind the online tools that have extended his reach." He jokingly asked Russia to find Hillary Clinton's 33,000 deleted emails and said he wished he "had [the] power" to hack the Democratic National Committee. And there’s also Trump's alleged history of listening in on phone calls involving staff at Mar-A-Lago, an allegation Hicks denied when asked by BuzzFeed. As for weaponizing the internet via cyberwarfare, Trump has described the United States as "obsolete" and called for a ramping up of US government capabilities.
"The first thing to do is listen to what people say they want to do. And when they say things like they want to close up part of the internet…that sort of thing is a big change to how the internet structure could work," Kahle said. "Who knows what will exactly happen, but we're starting with his words."
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/12/internet-freedom-wayback-machine-moving-copy-to-canada-donald-trump
» A bundle of files on the table.. A joint statement revealing the details of the Barti and Alekti mee
» A parliamentarian files a complaint against the former and current central bank governors (document)
» Expert: Central Bank management has received notifications warning of danger to the Iraqi economy
» Minister of Commerce: The electronic ration card project will prevent manipulation and reduce issuan
» What is strategic in our agreements?
» Corruption in the currency auction is thorny, and political disputes are useful in exposing crimes
» A bundle of files on the table.. A joint statement revealing the details of the Barti and Alekti mee
» Integrity calls for a review of customs and tax exemptions in investment laws
» An economist proposes putting in place an appendix in the 2023 budget that will solve the problem of
» Al-Sudani: The oil and gas law is the most important step in regulating the relationship with the Ku
» In the face of the dollar.. Will the proposals of the Sudanese advisor succeed in controlling exchan
» An Iraqi deputy files a lawsuit against the governors of the central bank
» Washington intervened in favor of sending the region's salaries.. Al-Sudani pays to put the court's
» Parliament ends discussion of the draft law on Iraq's accession to the Hague System of Private Inter
» Al-Tamimi calls for sending the 2023 budget to the House of Representatives
» Parliament finishes the first reading of three draft laws
» Parliament adjourns its session to next Monday.. This is what it included
» The Speaker of Parliament sets tomorrow a date for electing heads of parliamentary committees
» The foreign minister begins his talks with his Moroccan counterpart
» He collected 80 signatures to hold an emergency session of Parliament regarding the rise in the pric
» Economist: “WhatsApp” groups control the dollar.. This is what must be done to reduce prices
» 100 dollars for the “distress” .. This is how the dollar is smuggled after the application of the el
» Parliament finishes reading the draft law ratifying the avoidance of double taxation agreement
» Iraqi parliamentarians: There are no solutions to the dollar crisis except with the commitment of th
» Document.. a complaint against Al-Alaq and Makhif for "passing forged import documents"
» Parliament finishes the first reading of a bill regarding compensation for oil pollution damage
» A parliamentary request to host Al-Sudanese to clarify his procedures regarding the dollar crisis
» Sudanese diplomacy in the eyes of the London press.. rapprochement with the Arabs and maneuvering be
» Al-Halbousi sets a "critical" date for choosing the heads of parliamentary committees
» A deputy raises the “conclusive evidence” document: the tax authority building fire was caused by an
» Parliament finishes the first reading of the draft law for the Institute of Police Commissioners
» An economist describes the Central Bank's measures regarding the dollar crisis as "inadequate": it w
» As he continues to demand money from Baghdad, the region's oil revenues exceed one billion dollars
» Withdrawal or stay?.. The position of the Kurds towards the Sudanese government and the political pr
» The Ministry of Interior restores the registrations of citizens in the areas covered by Article 140
» Parliamentarian: The dollar crisis is political and the government is working to dismantle it
» Parliament ends the first reading of two bills
» Al-Sudanese advisor presents a "national solution" to confront the rise in dollar prices
» Deputy Speaker of Parliament: A political party instructed the Minister of Finance to stop the regio
» The House of Representatives holds its third session, headed by Al-Halbousi
» We will negotiate with Washington.. Al-Sudanese acknowledges the existence of a rise in prices and c
» The House of Representatives holds its session under the chairmanship of Muhammad Al-Halbousi
» Al Mandalawi: The tourism sector in Iraq has all the ingredients for success
» Al-Maliki's coalition reveals the mechanism and date for settingtling the heads of parliamentary com
» Al-Halbousi chairs the consultative meeting of the Arab Inter-Parliamentary Union
» Al-Sudani and Macron sign the strategic partnership agreement
» Anticipation of new measures to surround the "dollar crisis"
» UNESCO: Iraq spends only 6% on education
» Parliament is discussing reducing Internet fees and increasing its speed
» Transportation: The dry canal is among our strategic projects
» Samawa desert.. Promising investment opportunities
» Babel Investment: We face obstacles that hinder our work
» Anticipation of new measures to contain the {dollar crisis}
» The start of the meeting of the political bureaus of the Kurdistan Democratic Party and the Patrioti
» Iraq announces the suspension of consular work in Ukraine
» "He did not name it".. Shah Wan Abdullah: A political party instructed the Minister of Finance to st
» Al-Sudani acknowledges the existence of a rise in prices and says that the window for selling the cu
» Justice responds to Al-Dahlaki and sends investigative committees to the "Hot of Nasiriyah"
» He signed a "strategic agreement for more than 50 articles with France" .. Al-Sudani returns to Bagh
» Iraqi parliamentarians: There are no solutions to the dollar crisis except with the commitment of th
» Fouad Hussein asks Morocco to allow Iraqis to visit its lands and to provide them with facilities
» A judicial complaint against the former and current governors of the Iraqi Central Bank. Document
» “Sales diplomacy.” South Korea strengthens its presence in Iraq and the region’s markets
» About 2.5 million barrels of Iraqi oil exports to Jordan
» Al-Sudani: The entry of French companies into Iraq for investment will be a right decision
» Minister of Health: The Health Insurance Law Protects Those Who Are Incapable of "Catastrophic Payme
» The sales of the Iraqi Bank are close to half a billion dollars in a week
» To face the consequences of the dollar.. the financial advisor proposes that the state intervene to
» The International Islamic Bank launches the documentary credit service for the government sector
» SOMO: Iraq exported about 2.5 million barrels to Jordan in 2022
» 300 thousand counterfeit dollars were about to spread in the Iraqi market
» “He did not name it.” Shah Wan Abdullah: A political party instructed the Minister of Finance to sto
» Masrour Barzani and McGurk discuss the recent Federal Court decision and the outstanding problems be
» National Security confiscated more than half a million liters of smuggled oil
» Nechirvan Barzani discusses with Erdogan the situation in Kurdistan and Iraq and ways to enhance coo
» Rewaz Faiq: The Federal Court's decision distorts the understandings between Erbil and Baghdad
» Iraq is approaching the Arabs... and is maneuvering with Tehran and Washington after the "Gulf 25" s
» A judicial ruling deepens the crisis between Baghdad and Erbil
» Episode One: Pompeo tells the details of Soleimani's assassination...and considers the Tehran regime
» Al-Shammari and the Secretary-General of the Council of Arab Interior Ministers are discussing the e
» Basra crude closed on a weekly gain, exceeding $77
» The stability of the dollar exchange rates at 161 thousand dinars
» Sudanese advisor puts forward proposals to counter the continued rise in the exchange rate
» Morocco lifts the seizure of Iraqi funds for the Al-Rasheed and Al-Rafidian banks
» Al-Sudani: The budget law will contribute to resolving the bulk of the issue of financial transfers
» The Ministry of Justice denies the existence of cases of torture in the prisons of the correctional
» Deputy: Employees' salaries were affected due to the continued rise of the dollar
» Iraq and France sign memorandums of understanding in the fields of medical research, archeology and
» Al-Sudani returns to Iraq after the conclusion of his visit to Paris
» Iraq is outside the list and Kuwait is at the forefront in the Arab world... a list of the longest b
» The exchange rates of the dollar in the Iraqi market today
» Revealing the secrets of his assassination.. Pompeo: Soleimani is behind the killing of more than 60
» "Trafigura" announces the termination of the oil deal with the Kurdistan region after failing to neg
» Morocco lifts the seizure of Iraqi funds for the Al-Rasheed and Al-Rafidian banks
» Iraq announces the reopening of the Moroccan embassy in Baghdad
» Independent deputy: Al-Sudani's visit to Washington is the only and last solution to the crisis of t
» The Prime Minister is discussing in Paris providing Iraq with specialized radars and combat aircraft
» The Prime Minister is discussing with the delegation of Alstom Transport Company the suspended Baghd