The internet is a pretty big place and contains a lot of information. Since it would be difficult to find all this information on one’s own, archivists gather all existing data to organize them and make searching for specific data much easier. However, the prospect of a Donald Trump presidency has scared these archivists so much that they are now seeking the protection of Canada for fear of censorship or worse.
The Internet Archive is the single biggest archiving group in the world, storing large amounts of cached data to help preserve online information, Business Insider reports. The group is currently based in San Francisco, but it is making moves to become a little more Canadian by installing backup sites in the northern nation.
By creating another site where the group can store reserve packages of the data that they collect, it is effectively ensuring that the incoming administration will not be able to get their hands on them easily. In a recent blog post, the organization’s founder, Brewster Kahle wrote that the incoming administration has shown alarming signs that would impact the group’s long-term efforts.
"On November 9th in America, we woke up to a new administration promising radical change,” the post reads. “It was a firm reminder that institutions like ours, built for the long-term, need to design for change."
The group is also asking donations from anyone who wants to support their efforts due to the projected expenses that setting up a site on another country would cost them, Motherboard reports. The organization is reportedly looking at millions of dollars in expenditures.
Based on Trump’s past tirades against the tech industry, it doesn’t take too much to believe that he might adopt a hardline stance on censorship. He once said that the internet needs to be closed up so that extremism can be stopped.