The internet archive has revived, but they're not done yet.

The Internet Archive is one of the greatest things that has happened to/on the internet. However, it was attacked by a group of hackers known as "Dark Meta" around May 2024. It was recovered recently, but they are still in some ongoing legal trouble.

So, just what happened?

This group of Hacktivists, known as "Dark Meta" or "Black Meta" DDOS attacked Internet Archive in the May of 2024, for absolutely no reason. It seems they have some personal hate against Internet Archive or are extremely stupid. They say that they are Anti-Israeli, Russia based, and Anti-US Government hacktivists, but it is extremely common for hackers to lie. Moreover, the Internet Archive has nothing to do with any of these, and has no links with the U.S. government. The Internet Archive is a non-profit, free library of books, music, videos, images, software, and even web pages. Attacking something like it is the lowest of the low.

We decided to take down all your online services and resources that include millions of PDF files , Footage , Saved Website History and on top of that completely disabling your any users from accessing your files.@internetarchive

Telegram channel: https://t.co/6BwL14Wo6b pic.twitter.com/38rMCXDYSB

— 𝐒𝐍_𝐁𝐋𝐀𝐂𝐊𝐌𝐄𝐓𝐀 (@Sn_darkmeta) May 28, 2024

The good part though, is that the Internet Archive is back now. But they're still facing some legal troubles.

Mass Copyright Infringement of books and music

Books line the shelves at the Rice University Library in April 2022 in Houston.

Brandon Bell/Getty Images

The Internet Archive distribute millions of books and music for free, and call themselves a "Digital library". A few publishers sued them for "Mass Copyright Infringement". It wasn't until 2020, when the Internet Archive gave them a golden chance to do so.

The Covid-19 Pandemic

During the Covid-19 Pandemic, everything was shut down, including libraries. That was when Internet Archive did something - distributing books for free and unlimited to everyone. Before that, they made a very good digital "lending" system. Which wouldn't allow people to lend a book for more than 14 days. For each physical book that the Internet Archive had, they gave a digital copy of it and no more. The user was allowed to keep it for 14 days after which it would expire and be available to someone else. However, they allowed for unlimited borrowing during the pandemic, saying that the physical libraries were closed, so they allowed people to read books at their home. However, a few publishers came together and sued the Internet Archive.

Internet Archive's response

They said that internet archive caused harm to their business. However, in reality, it did not. The Internet Archive replied saying that the number of digital copies lent never exceed the number of physical copies in all of America's libraries. However, they are losing their case. They removed all the books from those publishers and paid them a undisclosed amount of money.

The music problem

iStock Photos

In 2023, a group of music labels, including Universal Music Group and Sony, sued the Internet Archive in a copyright infringement case over a music digitization project. This case is still pending and could potentially result in significant damages, potentially up to $400 million, which could pose an existential threat to the nonprofit.

So what's happening to the Archive?

We cannot say anything, atleast not yet. If Internet Archive loses the Music case, they could end up bankrupt and shut down. Though, that was not very cool of what these publishers and music labels did. We wish the Internet Archive continues to live forever.