Mass data deletion is a call to digital preservation action

Key Points

  • Data Deletion Threatens Transparency: The deliberate erasure of public data by administrations undermines accountability and societal memory, posing a significant threat to transparency.**
  • Digital Memory Fragility: The internet, intended as a public ledger of knowledge, is fragile due to centralized systems that prioritize convenience over permanence, making data vulnerable to deletion.**
  • Historical Revisionism in Real Time: Public data, such as health dashboards and economic indicators, is being removed without explanation, constituting a form of historical revisionism.**
  • Solutions for Preservation: Initiatives like the Internet Archive and blockchain-based storage offer censorship-resistant alternatives to protect public data from deletion and manipulation.**
  • Civic Obligation to Preserve Data: Preserving public data is a civic duty, essential for maintaining truth and history against the control of those in power.**

Summary

In this opinion piece, Phil Mataras, CEO of AR.io, warns of the alarming trend of mass data deletion by administrations, viewing it as a deliberate act that threatens transparency, accountability, and societal memory. He highlights how public data, from health dashboards to economic indicators, is being quietly removed without explanation, likening it to real-time historical revisionism. Mataras critiques the fragility of digital memory, noting that the internet’s centralized systems prioritize convenience over permanence, making data vulnerable to erasure. He cites examples like the shutdown of Apple Daily in Hong Kong and internet censorship in Spain to underscore the global scope of this issue. While acknowledging solutions like the Internet Archive and blockchain-based storage for preserving data, Mataras emphasizes that the core issue is not technical but civic. He argues that data preservation is a rebellion against control, urging individuals to protect public records as a means of safeguarding truth and history. Without such efforts, he warns, society risks losing not just its past but also its future to those who wield power over information.

cointelegraph
June 10, 2025
Crypto
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