The phrase “those who control the past control the future” has never felt more relevant than it does right now. Watching the systematic removal of government data from federal websites sends chills down my spine, especially given my background in IT and data management.

The Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine has become our modern-day Library of Alexandria, preserving countless web pages that would otherwise vanish into the digital void. But unlike its ancient predecessor, this library has something powerful on its side: distributed backups and a community of dedicated digital archivists.