This is a blatant and cheap hit piece, 100% politics and should not be here
2 paragraphs out of 21 mentioned Trump, 2-3 mentioned politics otherwise.
The Internet Archive is waging war on misinformation
41–50 of 323 posts
Re: The Internet Archive is waging war on misinformation
#42Earlier quoted context omitted.
They have an archive of "330bn web pages" (quote from article). I'm sure those are not exclusively conservative. One or twenty might even be dictionary entries for "example".
They can also choose not to include stuff in their archives, sometimes in ways that assist folks who've been spreading misinformation. For example, they've manually excluded all Snopes' content from the archive, effectively helping them memory-hole old versons of their fact checks. I discovered this after Snopes falsely claimed that an EPA rule tightening asbestos restrictions in the US was actually allowing prevoius…
Did they make the decision, or did Snopes ask them to blacklist their website?
Re: The Internet Archive is waging war on misinformation
#43Does anyone how the Internet Archive get a bypass on DMCA? It's full of pirated games for example. I'm aware that it's one thing to archive something but anyone can download it as well, so it's essentially distribution too. Just curious how does it work. Personally that's how I get old SNES, NES, DS games.
Didn't IA go through the bother to legally become a library, allowing all kinds of digital lending?
The last time this came up on HN, I was able to find the information. But it doesn't Google doesn't seem to want to share any information with me about it right now. Maybe because it's older than six minutes.
Re: The Internet Archive is waging war on misinformation
#44Earlier quoted context omitted.
I used to think that. Then I tried volunteering via their IRC channel and was met with some next level hostility. My read is: a) They're doing a job that needs to be done. b) They're relatively flush with cash from donors c) They're not nearly as efficient as they could be. d) The people there seemed more concerned about competition than collaboration. e) Probably most controversial: The organization seems like it ha…
How did you approach them, what did you ask to help with? Not saying you did this, but there's a big difference between "hey folks, how can I help?" compared to "I noticed your page load times are ridiculous, I can get you to a place that isn't awful".
I introduced myself, told them about my background/experience. [Hyper relevant to the field, with architectural experience of services with 10-100X the amount of traffic of the IA wayback machine got (probably), working around mechanical HD latencies on a very large scale, etc.]
No response. So, I went on to my largest pet peeve: The insanely bad response times for the IA wayback machine.
I got temporarily kicked from the channel for that.
After that I didn't really have the motivation to go back there.
(And yeah their page load times are still ridiculous, like 15 years after the launch, for the archive.)
Re: The Internet Archive is waging war on misinformation
#45Earlier quoted context omitted.
Thankfully, nobody cares what you think.
"the 45th president’s often-contradictory statements"
He does contradict himself. Also, while that may be the example they used, the greater context of the story implies this isn't limited to President Trump. Yeah, it could have used a not-Trump example as well, but I wouldn't say that makes it rise to the level of "hit piece"
Re: The Internet Archive is waging war on misinformation
#46Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm mainly asking the question because the article implies[1] that they're mainly archiving Trump stuff, not in general archiving misinformation. [1] yes, I know it doesn't say it outright, but I don't think it's a stretch to get the gist.
So you're criticising the article for making an argument that you realise is happening entirely in your head?
Articles can be written in such a way as to imply meaning that's not specifically stated, and this is one example.
Re: The Internet Archive is waging war on misinformation
#47They mention archiving a bunch of Trump stuff, but are they just focusing on conservatives? There's a bunch of misinformation on both sides, and if they're really after the truth, they should be paying the same amount of time and attention to both right and left. Somewhat related: it's sad but perhaps not inevitable that everyone basically has to do their own research to find out what's actually going on. These days,…
>This means I oftentimes find myself looking at the raw numbers of, say, gun deaths or immigration numbers, etc. Data is meaningless without context and context is inevitably political and subject to bias.
Good rhetoric to have on speed dial when encountering data that contradicts one's beliefs.
Re: The Internet Archive is waging war on misinformation
#48I like that the internet archive exists, but I don't like how they implement their opt-out policy. Sites can opt-out at any time, which I suppose is the correct thing to allow, but once they opt out then everything the Archive has gathered up to that point also goes away, which seems wrong.
It doesn’t go away, it’s just not public. This is to comply with copyright law. It’s still safely stored on disk.
Okay, if they have no choice in it then I understand. But as for keeping a copy on disk that practically no one can ever see, to me that strikes seems like a distinction without a difference.
Re: The Internet Archive is waging war on misinformation
#49Earlier quoted context omitted.
I mention this because of these choice quotes from the linked story: "“We’re bringing up a generation that turns to their screens, without a library of information accessible via screens,” said Mr Kahle. Some have taken advantage of this “new information system”, he argued — and the result is “Trump and Brexit”." ... "After President Trump’s election, and as the existence of disinformation campaigns that sought to sw…
One of the defining aspects of both the Brexit campaign and Trumpism is blatant disregard for facts and the delibirate spread of misinformation that is heavy on one side, and an order or two of magnitude less on the other side. That just is the way of it, however sad that is. It is not the first time that states use misinformation as effective attacks on other states, but that doesn’t mean it should be left unchallen…
that is heavy on one side, and an order or two of magnitude less on the other side
I disagree with this assertion. I think both sides are equally guilty of this, but on different topics, which can make apples to apples comparisons difficult.
For example, take a look at the numbers behind gun laws and deaths in the US, and you'll find misinformation propagated by the left. If you look at climate change information, you'll find misinformation propagated by the right.
Re: The Internet Archive is waging war on misinformation
#50Earlier quoted context omitted.
How did you approach them, what did you ask to help with? Not saying you did this, but there's a big difference between "hey folks, how can I help?" compared to "I noticed your page load times are ridiculous, I can get you to a place that isn't awful".
I introduced myself, told them about my background/experience. [Hyper relevant to the field, with architectural experience of services with 10-100X the amount of traffic of the IA wayback machine got (probably), working around mechanical HD latencies on a very large scale, etc.] No response. So, I went on to my largest pet peeve: The insanely bad response times for the IA wayback machine. I got temporarily kicked fro…
So your anecdote happened 15 years ago?