by Charles Miller

The internet is forever. This is a fact about which I am reminded every time I am tickled to read in the news that some newsworthy person posted something imprudent on their social media, but then quickly deleted it. The news report usually says something to the effect of "so-and-so wrote a scandalous blog post then deleted it seconds later… and here is what their now-deleted post said…" So-and-so just does not seem to realize that the public-facing internet is forever.

There are actually commercial companies and other organizations dedicated to saving information from being deleted off the internet. The news reporter referenced above might have subscribed to a paid service that monitors and archives everything that "so-and-so" deleted from their Facebook, Twitter, and other social media. For you and for me there are a number of free services that can sometimes come in handy when it comes to finding something that has been erased.

The "Wayback Machine" is part of the Internet Archive project, a non-profit library of websites, software, movies, and books; and is my favorite source for finding old web pages. Starting in 1996, the Wayback Machine has saved copies of millions of websites. The database contains an almost unimaginable 866 billion web pages, which is why I say the internet is forever because nothing important really gets deleted from the internet.

To find an old version of a website, type its address (URL) into the Wayback Machine's search engine at web.archive.org (no www). If the site you are looking for is in the database you will be presented a calendar showing a year-by-year timeline indicating when copies were saved. Not every existing website has been archived for posterity, but it is incredible how many have been.

The U.S. Library of Congress (loc.gov) also maintains a free and extensive database of websites, along with books (really!), newspapers, images, and other material. This one has a special place in my heart because I like to believe I had a small part in creating it.

Back in the 1980s I visited Washington, D.C. and learned that if I signed up for a few hours of classroom instruction I could have supervised access to the new LOCIS (Library Of Congress Information System) that was not yet available to the public. Being more familiar with the Dewey Decimal System than the library’s system, I wrote some computer code to parse Dewey’s geographic codes and add to search parameters. When the supervisors reviewed what I had done they were intrigued enough to add my idea to the list of suggested improvements to the system they were in the process of building.

For almost everyone there is a simple computer-techie tip that can be used to bring back a web page that has just been deleted. For example if you receive that dreaded "This page cannot be found" message, you might possibly be able to access a saved copy. Using the Google Chrome browser prefix "cache:" to the URL of the page you were unable to access the normal way. Specifically, if you had been trying to view the page at "nytimes.com/oped0704.html" and discovered that page had been deleted by The Times, try entering "cache:nytimes.com/oped0704.html" and Google Chrome will attempt to find and display a cached copy of that deleted page.

Finally, I shudder to think of how many young people sitting for job interviews today have been confronted with imprudent social media postings of their youthful indiscretions from a decade before. So, before you post anything you might regret later, remember the internet is forever.

**************

Charles Miller is a freelance computer consultant with decades of IT experience and a Texan with a lifetime love for Mexico. The opinions expressed are his own. He may be contacted at 415-101-8528 or email FAQ8 (at) SMAguru.com.

Discover Lokkal:
Watch the two-minute video below.
Then, just below that, scroll down SMA's Community Wall.
Mission

Visit SMA's Social Network

Contact / Contactar