A coalition of major record labels has filed a lawsuit against the Internet Archive—demanding **$700 million** for our work preserving and providing access to historical 78rpm records. These fragile, obsolete discs hold some of the earliest recordings of a vanishing American culture. But this lawsuit goes far beyond old records. It’s an attack on the Internet Archive itself.

This lawsuit is an **existential threat** to the Internet Archive and everything we preserve—including the **Wayback Machine**, a cornerstone of memory and preservation on the internet.

**At a time when digital information is disappearing, being rewritten, or erased entirely, the tools to preserve history must be defended—not dismantled.**

This isn’t just about music. It’s about whether future generations will have access to knowledge, history, and culture.
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## [Sign our open letter](https://www.change.org/p/defend-the-internet-archive) and tell the record labels to drop their lawsuit.
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**Posted by Chris Freeland, Director of Library Services at Internet Archive**

###### Source: https://blog.archive.org/2025/04/17/take-action-defend-the-internet-archive/

###### Reddit Discussion: https://redd.it/1k4qqid