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In a landmark decision for digital preservation, the Internet Archive has been officially designated as a US federal depository library by US Senator Alex Padilla. Announced in a July 24 letter to the Government Publishing Office (GPO), this move integrates the nonprofit into a network of over 1,150 libraries under the Federal Depository Library Program. It grants the public unprecedented online access to archived congressional bills, laws, regulations, and other government documents—reinforcing the archive's role in democratizing information.

Senator Padilla emphasized the alignment with the Internet Archive's existing initiatives, stating:

"Through its Democracy's Library collection, the Internet Archive has already taken steps to provide the public with free access to government publications from around the world. As a federal depository library, the Archive will help the Government Publishing Office advance its mission to digitize and make federal government publications accessible. I believe that the library will be able to meet the public service goals of the Federal Depository Library Program for some time to come."

This designation comes just weeks after the archive celebrated archiving 1 trillion web pages, a testament to its scale and technical infrastructure. Brewster Kahle, founder of the Internet Archive, highlighted the potential for broader integration:

"I think there is a great deal of excitement to have an organization such as the Internet Archive, which has physical collections of materials, but is really known mostly for being accessible as part of the internet. And helping integrate these materials into things like Wikipedia, so that the whole internet ecosystem gets stronger as digital learners get closer access into the government materials."

However, the achievement is shadowed by recent cybersecurity incidents. In late 2023, the archive suffered a DDoS attack from the alleged pro-Palestinian group SN_BlackMeta, which temporarily crippled its servers. Worse, a separate breach exposed authentication tokens, leading to the theft of user data for 31 million accounts. A subsequent attack exploited poor token rotation practices to compromise the archive's Zendesk email support platform. These events underscore the vulnerabilities in maintaining vast digital repositories and the urgent need for robust security protocols in an era of escalating cyber threats.

For developers and tech leaders, this news signals both opportunity and caution. The federal status elevates the Internet Archive as a critical resource for open data and historical research, potentially inspiring similar digitization efforts. Yet, the breaches serve as a stark reminder that organizations handling sensitive information must prioritize zero-trust architectures and automated token management to protect against supply chain attacks. As digital archives become integral to governance, their resilience will define not just accessibility, but the very integrity of public knowledge.

Source: BleepingComputer