Read Part 1 here.
I've been emailing with Brewster Kahle, founder of Archive.org, about web hosting. In the last go-round I tried to concisely state the problem.
1. If I want to start a blog or post a research paper, or denounce the government, or post a leaked document, I don't really have a choice but to use a hosting provider. Most people don't even do that, they just start a Facebook page. I've always believed these companies would bend under pressure from the government, even in the US. Now that's not a theory, it's happened.
2. I started writing DaveNet in 1994, that's sixteen years worth of writing. A month or two after I die, the only way to get to that stuff will be through archive.org. That's not good enough. I want scripting.com to survive me. I have plenty of money to pay for it. But there's no one to give it to that I trust. No one is set up to do that business.
3. I am responsible for the web presence of two relatives who have passed on. My father and my uncle were both bloggers (in their own way). My father was a photographer. I am holding sites for them that they were working on.
4. And of course that's just me. I have a Comp Sci degree, and 30-plus years programming experience, and I have the time and the money. If I don't have this problem solved -- clearly almost no one does.
5. Jeff and I went to see the Library of Congress this fall. They're totally under-prepared for this, plus they had to shut down the WikiLeaks stuff because they're part of the US govt.
So now we know what we need. Now is the time when people's minds are open about this. We can move at double or triple speed. It pays to focus here now.
This post originally appeared at Scripting News.