Thread

An update on Wayback Machine access

685 points · 362 comments · ChrisArchitect

simonw · 1789496872 · focus · HN ↗
> Here’s what’s going on. The Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine has been hit by waves of high-volume automated traffic, and we’ve put protections in place to keep the service running.
I'm pretty certain this is scrapers that are trying to workaround blocks on accessing original sites by hitting the Wayback Machine copy instead. Appalling behavior.
In addition to the load it puts on this vital non-profit piece of Internet infrastructure, we've also already seen some sites opt out of the Wayback Machine to prevent their content from being scraped via this alternative route.
1. packetslave · 1789496974 · focus · HN ↗
  This is absolutely something that's happening. There are even paid scraper API's that offer "Wayback Machine fallback" as a feature.
  1. bsimpson · 1789498205 · focus · HN ↗
    It's an open secret that you can often circumvent paywalls by searching Wayback.
    koolala · 1789530248 · focus · HN ↗
    One site was doing that which archive in their name but wasn't apart of archive.org
    sam_lowry_ · 1789530453 · focus · HN ↗
    archive.is or archive.today?
    Why being shy in the era of stealing AI?
    LoganDark · 1789534509 · focus · HN ↗
    archive.today uses clients to perform DDoS, I would not recommend using their site.
    schnebbau · 1789535928 · focus · HN ↗
    [dead]
    LoganDark · 1789537204 · focus · HN ↗
    <<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Archive.today_guidance#Why_are_we_doing_this?" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Archive.today_guidan...> for those without a search engine.
    DonHopkins · 1789568375 · focus · HN ↗
    [dead]
    x______________ · 1789541325 · focus · HN ↗
    Sure it is! This has been going on for years and global attention was gained at the beginning of this one.[0]
    Wikipedia deprecates Archive.today, starts removing archive links (arstechnica.com) 616 points by nobody9999 6 months ago | hide | past | favorite | 368 comments
    0 <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47092006">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47092006
    jimmydorry · 1789546015 · focus · HN ↗
    It's been posted multiple times of the last few months as they were removed from wikipedia and cloudflare. [1] [2] [3]
    1. <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46843805">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46843805
    2. <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47092006">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47092006
    3. <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47474255">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47474255
    gpvos · 1789558351 · focus · HN ↗
    This is well-known. If you are very sure it's not happening anymore, please provide a reputable source.
    DonHopkins · 1789568319 · focus · HN ↗
    You can't make other people forget things by declaring yourself ignorant of the facts.
    throw10920 · 1789569333 · focus · HN ↗
    I literally had never heard of this before. I don't check HN every single day.
    It's extremely reasonable to ask for a link, very easy to include one when making a claim, and attacking someone for asking for evidence is extremely anti-intellectual independent of the level of effort required.
    (n.b. that doesn't excuse the hostile way that they asked for proof - "Let's all just believe this baseless assertion shall we")
    DonHopkins · 1789581886 · focus · HN ↗
    [dead]
    LoganDark · 1789591965 · focus · HN ↗
    They were pointing out the lack of evidence on my part. I agree it was rude but I don't think it's helpful to start calling it misinformation with no evidence. They had a valid point that not everybody Just Knows already, hence why I did reply with a link. I don't think it's constructive to jab much more than I did in that reply.
    throw10920 · 1789613583 · focus · HN ↗
    And thank you for sending that link, because it was extremely useful and detail-packed.
    mitxela · 1789556233 · focus · HN ↗
    In some parts of the internet you can't mention a pirate site (or left wing stuff, anything sexual, or Palestine) without being banned. HN isn't one of them, but people have learned to be overly cautious.

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