Posted on 02/18/2015 3:31:11 AM PST by SoFloFreeper
Vint Cerf, a "father of the internet", says he is worried that all the images and documents we have been saving on computers will eventually be lost. Currently a Google vice-president, he believes this could occur as hardware and software become obsolete. He fears that future generations will have little or no record of the 21st Century as we enter what he describes as a "digital Dark Age".
(Excerpt) Read more at m.bbc.com ...
Thanks for the links. I have a stack of old mags upstairs I haven’t been able to find online, even through Google books.
Looking at long term data usage is actually a pretty complex subject. You've got to take into account not only data formats, but media formats as well. What do you do with data stored on 9-track tape from an IBM mainframe written in EBCIDIC? Try finding a 9-track drive to read it today. Then think about how hard it will be to do the same 50 years from now. Even if the tapes were stored in the best climate controlled conditions possible, you're going to have bit-rot.
Of course, no intent to imply otherwise.
I just wanted to be sure Freepers are aware of that privacy risk on the first link — not all are — so that they will be careful.
Your other links (on my brief perusal) did not seem to have that issue.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.