# Internet Archive

Standing (still-up). Founded 1996-05-12.
Site: [archive.org](https://archive.org)

Founded 12 May 1996. The closest thing the web has to a public attic.

## Why it lasted
- It is the memory of the web, and even companies that sue it still need the Wayback Machine.
- Brewster Kahle treats it like a library, which is a worse business and a better institution.
- When a site dies, this is where journalists go. That makes it load-bearing.

## Near deaths
- The 2024 DDoS and account breach. It came back.
- Publishers' lawsuits over controlled digital lending. The Wayback Machine is the part that is hardest to kill in court.

## What would finish it
- A legal ruling that makes crawling the live web into infringement at scale, plus a funding cliff.

[Catalog](https://stillupsince.com/) · [Suggest](https://stillupsince.com/submit)