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Poster: questioner1400 Date: Jul 8, 2009 2:32pm
Forum: faqs Subject: Archive and Deletions Policy

The owner of a domain name had been blocking the public viewing of a website hosted on that domain. Recently, the domain name changed hands, and the robots.txt file was removed. So the archived website that was once blocked is now visible to the public through the Wayback Machine. Two questions: 1. Is there any way that the domain name's previous owner can now block access to the old website? 2. Can the domain name's NEW owner block access to the old website hosted prior to its ownership, perhaps by posting a new robots.txt file? In other words, now that the ownership has changed hands and the robots.txt file has been removed, will the old content be freely available forever, or is there a chance that the block could be reinstated? I realize this is a complex question. I would greatly appreciate the most precise answer. Thanks very much!
This post was modified by questioner1400 on 2009-07-08 21:32:15

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Poster: kustota Date: Jul 8, 2009 6:51pm
Forum: faqs Subject: Re: Archive and Deletions Policy

http://www2.sims.berkeley.edu/research/conferences/aps/removal-policy.html

1) it would be the 'third party removal request'. the previos owner should have a proof that he/she has rights to disallow public access (e.g. copyright)

2) if the 'old website' is still there, using robots.txt is the simplest way to block from archiving.

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Poster: questioner1400 Date: Jul 8, 2009 10:07pm
Forum: faqs Subject: Re: Archive and Deletions Policy

Thank you for answering my question. From your response, it appears that someone who objects to public viewing of a particular domain's archived content, regardless of when it was generated, could acquire the domain at a later date and put up a robots.txt file to block viewing. For instance, if I disapproved of website content generated in 2002, and wanted to effectively remove it from existence, I could acquire the domain in 2009, put up a robots.txt file, and block public access to old material. That is my understanding. Is it correct? I realize this is likely a redundant question, but I wanted to be absolutely certain. Thanks very much in advance.
This post was modified by questioner1400 on 2009-07-09 05:07:50

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Poster: kustota Date: Jul 8, 2009 10:56pm
Forum: faqs Subject: Re: Archive and Deletions Policy

yes, this is so. but you must understand that wayback machine is not the only way to archive/store a website. if you want your website to remain forever, you'd be better off not selling the domain. also you should keep an archive of your website.

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Poster: questioner1400 Date: Jul 9, 2009 11:21am
Forum: faqs Subject: Re: Archive and Deletions Policy

Let me clarify my interest here. I wasn't the domain's original owner, nor am I the new owner. I had nothing to do with creating the content in question. I am a third party who wants the content to remain publicly-accessible forever. The Wayback Machine's operator allows a domain owner to block public access to archived material, and I was wondering how comprehensive the blocking ability is. You wrote that there are other ways to archive websites. What are those other ways? Thanks much for anything you can tell me.
This post was modified by questioner1400 on 2009-07-09 18:21:37

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Poster: kustota Date: Jul 9, 2009 5:56pm
Forum: faqs Subject: Re: Archive and Deletions Policy

at least you can save all the pages from that site to your computer (if they are still available). also the website can be mirrored. you can contact site's original owner, ask him for permission. if you cannot contact him, i think it would be safe to republish anything as long as you clearly point to the source of the materials.

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Poster: questioner1400 Date: Jul 9, 2009 7:14pm
Forum: faqs Subject: Re: Archive and Deletions Policy

Yes, I know I can save the site to my computer. But that's not enough. The reason I want the original published is because then no one can claim anyone has altered the source code. That's the beauty of an archival link. As for "mirroring," can you explain how that's done? Would I need the technical cooperation of either the former owner or the new owner to mirror?
This post was modified by questioner1400 on 2009-07-10 02:14:16

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Poster: kustota Date: Jul 9, 2009 10:31pm
Forum: faqs Subject: Re: Archive and Deletions Policy

"mirror" is the copy of the website stored on another server. of course it would have a different www address too. ideally, you would have to contact the owner/author of website to approve the mirroring, and the link to your mirror should be put somewhere on the original site to show that your copy is legitimate. i don't know if it is possible to do in your situation.

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Poster: questioner1400 Date: Jul 10, 2009 12:00pm
Forum: faqs Subject: Re: Archive and Deletions Policy

As of now, the domain has no content. The site I am discussing is an old one that once occupied the domain, and is only available today on the Internet Archive. Thus, if I were to mirror anything, I'd be mirroring the Archive. This leads to a question: If you mirror a site, and then the original site disappears or (in the case of mirroring the Archive) is blocked, does the mirror go away too?
This post was modified by questioner1400 on 2009-07-10 19:00:12

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Poster: kustota Date: Jul 10, 2009 6:15pm
Forum: faqs Subject: Re: Archive and Deletions Policy

why don't you discuss this with former site's owner? this isn't a technical question.

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Poster: questioner1400 Date: Jul 10, 2009 8:17pm
Forum: faqs Subject: Re: Archive and Deletions Policy

Actually, it is a technical question, but I sense that your interest in this exchange has dwindled. This is fair enough; it's not as if you are getting paid to answer my questions. Thanks for the answers you provided. All the best.