Internet Archive Pirates 2005 [ Secure ]

In July 2005, the Internet Archive was sued by Healthcare Advocates of Philadelphia. The plaintiff claimed that the Archive's use of the Wayback Machine to store and display expired web pages was unauthorized and illegal. They sought damages for copyright infringement and violations of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) .

This case was a "lightning rod" because it questioned the core legality of the Internet Archive's mission to preserve the "history of humanity online". The Piracy Debate: Archiving vs. Infringement internet archive pirates 2005

: Publishers and the Authors Guild argue that scanning and distributing entire books creates an "illegal market substitute" that directly harms authors' incomes. Modern Consequences of the 2005 Legal Precedents In July 2005, the Internet Archive was sued