authorities are prioritising #profit over #preservation.

Update. "As the Trump administration purges web pages, this group is rushing to save them"
https://www.npr.org/2025/03/23/nx-s1-5326573/internet-archive-wayback-machine-trump

"After President Trump's inauguration in January, some federal web pages vanished. While…were removed entirely, many came back online with changes that…officials said were made to conform to Trump's executive orders to remove "diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility policies." Thousands of datasets were wiped — mostly at agencies focused on science and the environment…Information about climate change, reproductive health, gender identity and sexual orientation also have been on the chopping block…The #InternetArchive [@internetarchive] is among the few efforts that exist to catch the stuff that falls through the digital cracks, while also making that information accessible to the public. Six weeks into the new administration, #WaybackMachine director Graham said, the Internet Archive had cataloged some 73,000 web pages that had existed on U.S. government websites that were expunged after Trump's inauguration."

Update. "A group of US researchers funded through federal grants who wish to document the damage to our scientific #infrastructure. Our #data #archive is for use by journalists, academics, and the general public."
https://theresearchwelost.com/

Update. "US anti-terror legislation must not be weaponised against libraries"
https://www.timeshighereducation.com/opinion/us-anti-terror-legislation-must-not-be-weaponised-against-libraries

"Scholars have attempted to safeguard their work by turning to sites deemed to be beyond the reach of the US government…However, even these safe havens may be at risk if a seemingly innocuous tax bill completes its course through Congress. H.R. 9495, the “Stop Terror-Financing and Tax Penalties on American Hostages Act”, was passed by the US House of Representatives in November 2024 and is currently before the Senate. It proposes…to strip non-profit status from organisations deemed to be “supporting terrorism”. But its broad language, lack of evidentiary requirements, and potential for political weaponisation should send a chill down the spines of all higher education professionals. After all, who is to define terrorism? History is filled with examples of liberation movements and resistance groups initially labelled 'terrorists' by powerful states. And who is to define 'support'?"

Update. From @kfitz: "Digital Preservation in a Time of Disorder"
https://about.hcommons.org/2025/03/19/digital-preservation-in-a-time-of-disorder/

"#KnowledgeCommons has applied for a significant grant from Lever for Change to build, implement, and sustain a digital preservation network that will be free from the US government’s, and any other single government’s, interference…KC is a #nonprofit, community-governed, #OpenAccess platform for creating and sharing knowledge world-wide…But, in the present moment, our US-centeredness is a significant threat to that mission. We propose to establish three linked but independent nonprofit public-benefit companies incorporated in the US, Europe, and South Africa, all dedicated to the social and technological processes of gathering, preserving, and ensuring the public accessibility of academic research."

Update. "SAFE-Track: Secure Anonymous Federal Evidence, Data and Analysis Tracking"
https://datafoundation.org/pages/safetrack

"The Data Foundation's SAFE-Track portal provides a secure, encrypted channel for documenting changes to federal evidence and #data activities. As a trusted, non-partisan authority on government data and evidence policy, the #DataFoundation maintains this platform to systematically understand and analyze impacts on America's evidence infrastructure…SAFE-Track enables confidential reporting through:
* Complete #anonymity for submissions
* End-to-end #encryption of all data
* No requirement for email or personal identification
* Option for secure follow-up communication through anonymous conversation codes
* Protections against collection of personally identifiable information."

Update. "The Data Hoarders Resisting Trump’s Purge. Can #librarians and guerrilla archivists save the country’s files from #DOGE.
https://www.newyorker.com/news/the-lede/the-data-hoarders-resisting-trumps-purge
(#paywalled)

"Lynda Kellam, a social scientist and data librarian,…who’s served in leadership positions at two Ivy League universities, described the vulnerable data as “irreplaceable.”…Kellam told me that she’d participated in a small data-preservation effort during Trump’s first term, but had never seen anything like the frenzy that ignited in late January, when the #CDC began removing information from its website. Kellam was encouraged, but worried about a lack of coördination. What if the backups languished on private hard drives? What if archivists duplicated one another’s work? She created a Google Doc to centralize information about preëxisting initiatives—an archive of archives, with detailed instructions on how to contribute to each…Kellam met with the heads of other data-librarian organizations, and together they founded the #DataRescueProject."

Workers expressed fear that #Trump’s cuts will threaten a collection of precious #art housed in federal buildings across the country, including Alexander Calder’s 1974 “Flamingo” at the John C. Kluczynski Federal Building in Chicago & Michael Lantz’s 1942 “Man Controlling Trade” outside the Federal Trade Commission building in D.C.

Update. #CoherentDigital launches Policy Commons 2025 Open Collection.
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/tobyabgreen_policy-commons-2025-open-collection-activity-7303702049764888577-k2TD

"It's our contribution to the ongoing effort to rescue, preserve and make open endangered government materials at risk of disappearing…Our focus will be on policy and technical reports, papers, documents, blogposts, videos, and podcasts but we're open to suggestions for other content types - except for datasets. There are a number of excellent ongoing efforts to rescue data so there's no need for us to replicate them…Our goal is to make these materials easy to find and permanently available…We’re calling on librarians and researchers to help identify endangered materials from government agencies and suggest at-risk websites and repositories. We're also inviting those who have been working closely with agencies to send us copies of previously open materials they may have on their hard drives and laptops."

Also see the project home page and FAQ.
https://coherentdigital.net/open-2025

Update. "Archivists Recreate Pre-Trump #CDC Website, Are Hosting It in Europe"
https://www.404media.co/archivists-recreate-pre-trump-cdc-website-are-hosting-it-in-europe/

"A team of volunteer archivists has recreated the Centers for Disease Control website exactly as it was the day Donald Trump was inaugurated. The site, called RestoredCDC.org, went live Tuesday and is currently being hosted in Europe."

Update. "Safeguarding Research & Culture — Distributing Cultural Memory"
https://safeguarding-research.discourse.group/about

"The destruction of knowledge and cultural heritage has happened, and therefore it can happen again. We are in the middle of that happening, whether it is caused by human action or natural causes…Safeguarding Research & Culture (#SRC) is creating an alternative #infrastructure for archiving and disseminating of cultural heritage and scientific knowledge…Together, we can ensure that our cultural, intellectual and scientific heritage exists in multiple copies, in multiple places, and that no single entity or group of entities can make it all disappear. Our archive is built according to the principles of #FAIR and #CARE, based on open technologies and standards, and resilient against loss via meaningfully distributed storage…Everyone, from individuals to institutions, can participate by accessing, contributing, and supporting these archival infrastructures."

Update. "EDGI Relaunches Federal Environmental Web Tracker"
https://envirodatagov.org/press-release-edgi-relaunches-federal-environmental-web-tracker/

"In response to the #Trump administration’s rapid dismantling of federal websites, the Environmental Data & Governance Initiative (#EDGI) has relaunched its Federal Environmental Web Tracker…The… Tracker makes records of significant changes to federal environmental websites publicly available in a searchable database…Since the first Trump administration, EDGI has monitored thousands of federal environmental webpages. Partners at the #InternetArchive download these webpages every day, and EDGI’s #OpenSource software compares versions of these webpages to identify differences."

Update. "Wayback Machine Saves Thousands of Federal Webpages Amid Purge of Government Data Under Trump"
https://www.democracynow.org/2025/2/28/internet_archive_trump_admin_data_purge

"Thousands of informational government webpages have been taken down so far in the second #Trump administration, including on public health, scientific research and LGBTQ rights. Amid this mass erasure of public information, the #InternetArchive is racing to save copies of those deleted resources."

Update. "How the Wayback Machine is preserving outdated government websites."
https://www.cbsnews.com/video/how-the-wayback-machine-is-preserving-outdated-government-websites/

"The #WaybackMachine is helping preserve the record of government websites before they were changed by the TTrump administration. CBS News Confirmed's Rhona Tarrant reports."