A profile of Internet Archive founder Brewster Kahle, as the service fights existential battles over copyright, including from music labels like UMG
the crunchy side, before it got all tech bro. It's utopian, it's idealistic.” 🔗 https://www.wired.com/... Mastodon: Pete Ashton / @pete@social.coop : I am occasionally asked why I download and save so much stuff. Part of it is habit and perhaps a mild psychosis, but mostly it's because I know there's a very good chance I won't be able to download it again in the future. — So yeah, I will always support the Internet Archive. https://www.wired.com/... Jonathan Yu / @jawnsy@mastodon.social : “The combined weight of these legal cases threatens to crush the Internet Archive. The UMG case could prove existential, with potential fines running into the hundreds of millions. The internet has entrusted its collective memory to this one idiosyncratic institution. It now faces the prospect of losing it all.” … Jay Hoffmann / @Jayhoffmann@mastodon.social : Apart from, you know, the web itself, the Internet Archive is one of the single greatest innovations of the information age. — This is tragic. — https://www.wired.com/... X: @xerxesqados : I know we've stopped calling artists sellouts for signing to major labels but we need to bring this back to anyone signed to UMG specifically If your label is trying to burn the Library of Alexandria you need to drop them or you're a scab https://www.wired.com/... Ronan Beckman / @ronanbeckman : The Internet Archive has been a vital organisation in documenting the history of the Web. I have found it invaluable in accessing rare, out of print books. But their existence is in peril due to copyright lawsuits. I support them, but what is your opinion? https://www.wired.com/... @lionblogosphere : So sad that the Internet Archive Wayback Machine is going to be destroyed and turned off because of copyright lawsuits. Congress should do something ASAP. https://www.wired.com/... Alan Woodward / @profwoodward : I've used the Internet Archive in some very important situations - it's demise would be a matter significant regret https://www.wired.com/... Deepak Adhikari / @deepakadk : Wayback Machine (@internetarchive) is a repository of web pages that functions as an unparalleled record of the internet. It is one of the most important historical-preservation organizations in the world. Via @WIRED https://www.wired.com/... Neil Turkewitz / @neilturkewitz : Kahle inadvertently exposes the fact that he still doesn't get it. He says “I think the copyright cartel is on a roll,” once again portraying his infringing conduct as a battle against “The Man” while wholly ignoring the fact that books have authors! 🤯🤬 https://www.wired.com/... Messieurs Lacey / @lacey9020 : A very useful archive to get things that you have to fight for today, like old video game wav files. The Internet Archive's Fight to Save Itself https://www.wired.com/... Joanne Mcneil / @jomc : Must-read reporting on how the Internet Archive struggles to survive. It's a crucial resource for me, and as I said in the story, many of the books I read through the Open Library are nearly impossible to access otherwise https://www.wired.com/... @knibbs : Most of the headline-grabbing copyright battles over the past few years have been over AI. But the Internet Archive is fighting its own war over copyright—and it's in grave danger. https://www.wired.com/... @knibbs : Earlier this month, I reported on how the archive lost its appeal in a lawsuit brought by book publishers. That's bad news for the IA, but there's a much bigger problem: Major music labels are *also* suing the non-profit, and the damages could run to the hundreds of millions Forums: r/LateStageCapitalism : The Internet Archive's Fight to Save Itself | The web's collective memory is stored in the servers of the Internet Archive. Legal battles threaten to wipe it all away. r/books : The Internet Archive's Fight to Save Itself | The web's collective memory is stored in the servers of the Internet Archive. Legal battles threaten to wipe it all away r/DataHoarder : The Internet Archive's Fight to Save Itself - new WIRED article r/technology : The Internet Archive's Fight to Save Itself See also Mediagazer
Context & Ripple Effects
The profile lands after the Internet Archive lost its appeal in the publishers’ ebook-lending case, reinforcing that its legal exposure is not confined to a single dispute. Earlier coverage also described the organization removing more than 500,000 books while pursuing its defense of digital lending practices after the 2023 ruling.
The conflict tests whether a nonprofit archive can operate as a digital library when rights holders contest the copying and lending model. The music-label suits add a second major content category to the pressure already created by book publishers.
First-order effects
- Internet Archive and founder Brewster Kahle face intensified operational and financial pressure as publisher and music-label copyright cases proceed, with potentially large damages threatening the nonprofit’s ability to sustain services.
- UMG and other music-label plaintiffs gain another venue to challenge the Archive’s treatment of copyrighted recordings, alongside the already adverse publisher litigation.
Second-order effects
- The publisher appeal loss gives other rights holders a favorable reference point, raising the cost and legal risk for archives that digitize and lend copyrighted works.
- To limit exposure, the Archive may have to further narrow access to disputed material, reducing the breadth of its digital collections for users while litigation continues.
Third-order effects
- If courts continue to reject the Archive’s lending model, digital-library preservation will increasingly depend on negotiated licenses rather than nonprofit institutions’ own digitization and access systems.
- The overlapping book and music disputes could make copyright risk a defining constraint on broad public archives, particularly where preservation and public lending are combined.
The trend: Copyright enforcement is increasingly shaping which institutions can preserve and provide digital access to culturally important works at scale.