I just found out the other day that the official Internet Archive/Wayback Machine extension (https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/wayback-machine/fp...) has a mode to automatically archive every page you view. It's pretty neat, and I wish more people would run it to get a more diverse snapshot of stuff into the Wayback machine.
I see they have a private mode, how does this work exactly? How does it make sure it's archiving the home page of my bank's website and not my personal dashboard?
> It probably nudges the crawler to come rather than sending the page. If it's private, the crawler won't be able to see it.
I'm sure that's exactly what it does. It is definitely not archiving some Facebook pages I've been browsing (that I would actually like to archive). It's only been capturing the login screen or an error about abusing the site.
Looks like GitHub workflow to rebuild pages errored for some reason and that's why the 404 showed up. However, you'll notice that if you click on the direct link to the git content, everything is there.
Got scammed on CL buying something and want to reference the original ad for any "forensic" data. Of course the scammer will delete the post as soon as the item(s) are "sold". No problem, I'll just reference clippings because it's archived. There's one.
A friend of mine was a victim of a false Craigslist listing inviting people to come by his home and take "free" items from his property. The listing was removed before he got home from work and realized what happened. It would have been useful to have an archived copy of the listing.
The value of being able to see the deleted posts is so you can recognize the posters or their telltale phrases in future:
a) Too-good-to-be-true accommodation listings on CL/FB listing artificially low weekly/month-to-month rates on nice-looking properties, in order to "acquire" unwitting customers for marketing RE or 12+ month leases to. RedFin and/or their affiliates seemed to be doing a huge amount of this throughout 2022.
b) Deposit scammers on CL, FB advertising properties for which they are not the landlord; meet in person to pretend to take application and deposit. (Someone I know was scammed $1400. Obviously be skeptical, check owner, never give cash to strangers - but this still happens).
c) Another telltale is when the identity of the "apply to" URL is disguised using shorteners (or rendered as image).
d) Nuisance landlord(/roommate) scammers on CL/FB who repeatedly post a similar generic ad under different names/ addresses/ userids; then don't know which property in which country you're responding to, won't reply by phone, are in a different timezone/country, and insist you fill in their third-party application form incl. your contacts and SSN.
I've moved quite a few times and when it gets to be a week out and I still have so much stuff and no time, I've often tried to give it away, but people are so suspicious that they could get a free couch or desk that we have to go through 10 messages for them to trust me. I can't be bothered to exchange that many messages with 20 people just to give something away.
I want an apartment equivalent of a garage sale for good stuff, not junk
I've personally wanted to reference an ad after purchasing something or in other situations and it's gone. Again, think of physically clipping a newspaper ad. Pretty much just like http://wayback.archive.org/but on a more granular/niche scale.
I can relate to that. I live in a different country but we have a similar site site here.
Reasons I personally like to revisit old ads sometimes:
- Seeing prices that people asked for an item at different times, and the full text of the ad and pictures so I can compare extras included and condition of item
- Something I bought and I don’t remember how much I originally paid for it
- Things that I did not buy, but I want to remember for the future and perhaps buy similar item from someone else in the future
- As a substitute for buying the thing. Instead of buying an item now I can keep a copy of the ad and over time I can think about whether I really need that thing, or if it is not as necessary as I impulsively had imagined
A decade ago I rented an apartment that was advertised on Craigslist as having laundry machines, that we only learned would cost extra after signing the lease.
The broker who rented it to us swore the ad didn’t specify it was included. Thankfully I’d taken a screenshot, and caught the broker in a lie directly in front of her boss. They paid us cash right there to make up for it!
Reddit is especially bad about this. I’m tired of seeing deleted posts leaving tattered conversations where you can hardly tell what someone is talking about. Content you post online should be as immutable as possible.
This here is at the forefront of the entire reason for the massive backlash at tge Reddit API changes.
I created that content, I can decide what is done with it. If I dislike the direction reddit is going I should be able to remove said content and prevent reddit from generating income for it.
Reddit didn't pay me to provide the information I did, neither did you. Neither of you are entitled to it remaining there indefinitely.
I actually like OPs tool though, I don't have an issue with what it does, however I would if it stored that data on OPs servers and then trained an LLM on it or sold the information to an ad company.
Suffice to say I think LLMs are going to degrade the general internet due to people not wanting what they said in an LLM. I personally post for other humans to benefit, not for a corporation to train an LLM on and make a ton of income. I'm fine however with a platform using tasteful ads to fund it's own operations.
Insert random ideas about posts made online being equated to a public speech and where that falls in the copyright laws that currently exist for the future LLM that parses this stuff.
I am still an individual in this world with rights no matter how much "the internet" feels that isn't true.
Reference the current legislation being put in place around the world regarding privacy as proof that I am not in the minority here.
Also it did work exactly like that since reddit allowed me to delete said content and and chose to stop posting or interacting with reddit.
Could there be a copy my reddit history out there somewhere?
Sure.
Do I have an issue with that?
Nope.
Would I have an issue with that if that copy was held by reddit and they still trained LLMs or sold it to ad companies?
Yes and I'm sure I also have legal standing on that backed by my government.
Legislation or not, it is very entitled to think that that which is cast to the public is something you have any control over. Any illusory power you might have is merely legal, which in the grand scheme of things doesn't amount to much. The entire notion of copyright is built on this false premise of control. But in the world of ideas or information, bits are copied freely and easily and there is nothing that can be done to stop it.
FWIW you can "delete" the content from public view. however, reddit keeps the data internally and can sell the data. so if the intent is to block the public view that works but if it's to block reddit from using your content it does nothing.
Especially solutions for various software and stuff.
I ran into an rare issue with one software last year that I couldn't remember what it is. I saw the error in the log and posted it in Google. There are only one Reddit post in search of this error. The deleted user deleted the comment of the solution, preventing anyone from fixing the issue. That deleted comment have more than 200 child comments for thanking for the simple solution and other are asking other what are the solution after the deletion.
Some got around by quoting the comment to for those deletion situations. I get they want to protect their privacy and whatnots. It is rather infuriating when it is the only solution in the entire internet that are deleted.
Yea, I think I will build a plug-in that will automatically quote the comment you reply to and the author just to exactly prevent these kinds of situations.
Especially the people whose history gets wholesale deleted on a regular schedule. I understand privacy but there are so many conversations on reddit that could be useful if not for the giant gaps caused by these kinds of things.
I hate getting a push notification for a Reddit post and then clicking on it only to find... "This posting has been deleted by its author." (the Reddit version of that)
We are headed to Black Mirror episode https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Entire_History_of_You, just saying. Particularly with smart glasses seemingly (for real this time) on the horizon. So, tools like this will pale in comparison to what's to come.
It would be nice to be able to disown a comment, instead.
Comments that accidentally reveal personal information, that would be a nice use-case for deletion. But on the other hand, nothing can be deleted from the internet, so having the button there could add a false sense of security.
In theory that's true; anything Donald Trump says, for instance, can never be deleted.
In practice, if someone on Reddit deletes their post, it's extremely unlikely you'll be able to recover it. It's not a probability of zero, but pretty close to it. You could file a lawsuit and then Reddit will have to find it, but otherwise, it's gone.
We are way overdue for having a service which would completely back up any bit if information you ever put your eye at, in a private cloud, with search.
if your really shadey you pick an posting/ad thats getting moby-like traction, archive it and as soon as the real deal is deleted, you spoof the post, and redirect, to ride its momentum, to influence your site visits.
What’s wrong with a screenshot? Greenshot is my choice of Windows app for capturing just limited clips of the screen and either saving them directly to the drive or dumping into the clipboard for elsewhere paste.
What about the right to be forgotten and similar laws?
Is it legal to run a service like this when laws exist about providing the original author or a person present in a photo with a way to remove content or personally identifiable information? There are also copyright trolls and GDPR trolls, isn’t a service like this an opportunity for them?
Unfortunately, when you post ANYTHING online... one must assume it's like a tattoo... that is to say permanent. Not saying it's right or wrong (because believe me I have my own privacy/trust issues), just saying it is reality.
>Unfortunately, when you post ANYTHING online... one must assume it's like a tattoo... that is to say permanent. Not saying it's right or wrong (because believe me I have my own privacy/trust issues), just saying it is reality.
It isn't reality. Reality is that it's simply data on a server. Data on a server isn't permanent, the web was never designed or intended to provide an immutable record of anything.
Data is only saved when it has value, and only as long as that value exceeds the cost of maintaining continuous copies, and sometimes (as recently nearly happened with Google code) people simply become careless and the one and only copy of something vanishes without a trace. Many, many things have vanished from the internet without a trace.
Assume permanent data when you want something deleted and temporary data when you want it saved. If you want it deleted it's probably because someone thinks it is worth saving. If you want it saved, well it doesn't mean anyone does,(or that who ever does will make it accessible) so you'll need to ensure it's paid for.
I appreciate this further use of the tattoo analogy. At its core, the data exists on a server, but it's intriguing to ponder how many times it has been duplicated, cached, and stored. How many individuals and devices have contributed to this process? Is there an absolute method to ascertain this complex journey?
Undoubtedly, nothing on this planet, whether digital or physical, internet-based or in print, is truly everlasting. Eventually, everything returns to the earth, a poignant reminder of impermanence.
Drawing a parallel to tattoo removal by laser, I'm reminded of an old girlfriend's experience. While she possessed a remarkable pain threshold, it was an ordeal she wouldn't willingly revisit.
So again, I still feel data online is very much LIKE a tattoo in its permanent nature, and time only strengthens that feeling.
When I post anything online there is, in my opinion, an agreement in place there, similar to in real life.
If I made an actual article hosted on a site which could be equated to news or magazines of old, I would assume it's permanent since I would assume the same in reality.
If I post something in a discussion forum, I cannot be sure nobody there is recording it and keeping a copy of it indefinitely.
I am however allowed to be upset and possibly persue legal action if the person who did happen to record it now sells it to anyone with enough money or trains an LLM on dictated versions of it.
For the former I believe there is actual legal grounds with damages, for the latter I feel I can choose to never interact with that person again and disparage them publically for what they have done.
Whenever I post ANYTHING online, even a private contribution on a private forum, I assume everyone in the world can or will eventually be able to read it.
> The right to be forgotten leads to allowing individuals to have information, videos, or photographs about themselves deleted from certain Internet records so that they cannot be found by search engines.
Hope you understand that this was an unknown condition prior to your helping out (I'm on Android where back navigation was unaffected) and certainly not a deliberate attempt at bad UX just to push a DO ad. Again, thank you for the valuable feedback as it helped solve the problem faster!
You can use https://archive.ph to archive webpages instantly and (seemingly) forever.
Btw, I've been aching for a browser extension that saves a copy of every web site I visit so I can reach for the archived copy in my history window. Does anything like that exist?
Actually, discovered that site after building this! lol It did seem to be a good resource. However, there are certainly differences between Clippings and it. One big one being that Clippings is more narrowly focused on classifieds and not the web in general.
From a data persistence perspective, it’s good just that there are more archives so I wouldn’t worry too much about differentiation. Hopefully this tool is used alongside others.
