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Blocking the Internet Archive Won’t Stop AI, But It Will Erase the Web’s Historical Record (www.eff.org)
submitted 7 months ago by to c/technology@lemmy.world
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[–] 22 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (4 children)

It's not that Americans are against either of these per se; it's that they're indifferent. Ignoring people brainwashed by the right-wing propaganda against Wikipedia, sane Americans largely take Wikipedia for granted. I don't mean that bitterly; I mean that it's been there for 25 years, its quality is better than ever, finances are good, (edit: many people read it through some intermediary), and everyday people therefore don't consider how unstable its position really is, how much work there is to do, and how irreplaceable it is.

As for the IA, sample 1000 American adults. I'll bet you five or fewer could tell you what the hell an "Internet Archive" is.

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  • [–] 9 points 7 months ago (3 children)

    sane Americans largely take Wikipedia for granted

    North America is Wikipedia's largest funding source by a factor of more than 2. I'm not sure why you're calling Americans out here.

    Are you supposing that IA is better known in other countries than in the US? Are you basing that on anything?

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  • [–] 4 points 7 months ago* (2 children)

    I'm not sure why you're calling Americans out here.

    Because the original comment (not made by me) was an appeal to Americans. The subsequent comment said it's not the [American] public. Thus I'm specifically limiting what I'm saying to Americans, regardless of the relative extent to which it applies elsewhere. Because that's whom the conversation – that I didn't start – is about.

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  • [–] 5 points 7 months ago* (1 child)

    The rest of the conversation, though, was about a (mostly) exclusively American thing, relating to lobbying and legislation against Wikipedia and IA. I've got no problem with shitting on the US for things we're actually doing, but saying the public doesn't support Wikipedia when we're actually the #1 supporter worldwide of Wikipedia feels kind of disingenuous.

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  • [–] 1 point 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

    but saying the public doesn't support Wikipedia when we're actually the #1 supporter worldwide of Wikipedia feels kind of disingenuous.

    Like I said, active support in hearts and minds – being ready and equipped to defend it if it comes under threat. Relatively, North America is the most supportive financially compared to the rest of the world. To the extent that's related to a bunch of factors, I'm not qualified to say (and I'll say I feel a fuck of a lot more qualified than most).

    When I say that people take Wikipedia for granted, you can hopefully tell that I'm talking about it in the same way people often used to take basic executive branch norms for granted before Trump's terms. Not everyone did; people who were especially politically engaged probably didn't. Most people would've told you they supported them; an overwhelming majority of people who weren't far-right nutjobs would've. But they often treated them as "too big to fail", and they were blindsided as Trump destroyed them.

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