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'Internet Archive Predicts a Grim Future With Its Wayforward Machine' by Liam Tung

The Internet Archive, the non-profit responsible for the online archive called the Wayback Machine, has a grim message about the potential future of the internet at it celebrates its own 25th anniversary. 

The Wayback Machine is an invaluable resource for anyone looking for a snapshot of web pages that may have been edited over time for various reasons. 

The project has archived some 588 billion web pages over a quarter of a century—as well as ancient computer games—and it now wants people to imagine what the internet will look like in 25 years time with what it is calling the Wayforward Machine. 

The Internet Archive set out a dark future timeline that sees end-to-end encryption banned, big tech firms merging to become even more powerful and information is increasingly hidden behind corporate defences. 

Using the Wayforward Machine overlays the site you search for with some ideas about what that future might look like. ‘Try out our Wayforward Machine to experience a world where access to knowledge is under siege,’ it says. In practice that means overlaying the sites you visit with warnings about restricted information and firewalls in a future where data is tightly controlled by the few and privacy is just a memory.

For more information, read the article.