I did not--and this is completely on me--understand the existential horror that digital collections could be under fascism. If they wanted to burn the books, they'd at least have to go manually and start torching the place. With this it's just... <DELETE> www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025... - ThreadSky

susankayequinn.bsky.social • 48 days ago

I did not--and this is completely on me--understand the existential horror that digital collections could be under fascism.

If they wanted to burn the books, they'd at least have to go manually and start torching the place.

With this it's just...
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/11/mississippi-libraries-race-gender-databases

Comments

delfinr.bsky.social•48 days ago

New age fascists

katrina-cheshire.bsky.social•48 days ago

Custodians of information and historical records in the US are hopefully finding ways to preserve them. Ideally information should be given to Universities in other countries to preserve?? And quietly stashed.

missharpylady.bsky.social•48 days ago

Part of the plan. We need to move quicker https://medium.com/@aletheisthenes/on-april-20th-2025-the-united-states-will-cross-the-point-of-no-return-0aecac04cfc3

anniehaz.bsky.social•48 days ago

Literally a crime against humanity. The history of humanity, gone in the press of a keyboard button. Fucking tragic. What a bunch of bigoted fascists they are. To be so scared of real facts that they have to delete it. Good job they can't delete copies held in other countries libraries & colleges!

susankayequinn.bsky.social•48 days ago

DOGE “all but axed the Institute of Library and Museum Services (IMLS) in March by putting nearly all of its employees on administrative leave. The independent federal agency provides resources and support to libraries, archives and museums in all 50 states and territories.”

janetennyson.bsky.social•48 days ago

Where are the Irish when you need them?

madetaye.bsky.social•48 days ago

In Europe we do.

msbureaucrat.bsky.social•48 days ago

OH.MY.FUCKING.GOD.

susankayequinn.bsky.social•48 days ago

I can always tell when a post starts to get shared widely cuz the bigots find me.

susankayequinn.bsky.social•48 days ago

Backups and archives are essential BUT…

the problem/horror remains

if they wanted to burn all the physical copies in Mississipi libraries it would take effort and cause outrage and could be physically stopped.

Instead…

susankayequinn.bsky.social•48 days ago

…they simply delete your login—vastly easier, only takes one person to comply, the effect is the same.

people in Mississippi lose access to knowledge

It’s not that it’s erased forever everywhere (they know they can’t do that). It’s that they cut off access one group at a time.

andrewintheclouds.bsky.social•48 days ago

That is scary. I guess the silver lining is it's relatively easy for others... even non-institutional actors to create and preserve an archive.

dlbvenice.bsky.social•47 days ago

Information like this does not maintain itself. Databases quickly become outdated and then useless or seriously impaired. Curation is necessary for any repository of knowledge.

andrewintheclouds.bsky.social•47 days ago

Fair and true, but it's at least something we can do. Beware of raining on silver linings. That way lies inaction and despair.

dlbvenice.bsky.social•47 days ago

Creating a copy is a temporary stopgap measure. Pointing out that fact doesn’t condemn the action, it simply recognizes it for what it is. We should do it, but we don’t want to stop there.

oldwhovian.bsky.social•47 days ago

The upside is all of this can be dumped and stored elsewhere just as easily as it can be deleted. Physical copies would require expensive reprinting

amalicule.bsky.social•48 days ago

Copy. Copy copy copy. And hide.

karickatlady.bsky.social•48 days ago

External hard drives are your best friend. They're your best friend in general forever and ever and ever.

lancethepants.bsky.social•47 days ago

Magnetic tape is even better. LTO-9 cartridges can hold 18 terabytes of uncompressed data and if stored properly can last between 15 and 30 years. Far longer than any hard drive.

colin25.bsky.social•48 days ago

Yes, so scary. Digital Fahrenheit 451🙄

maldenrosselle.bsky.social•48 days ago

I have Mississippi burning dvd whose going to erase it not me ?

axiomatixx.bsky.social•48 days ago

Thanks religious extremists!

dwaind.bsky.social•48 days ago

They really could delete *someone*. Scary thought.

susankayequinn.bsky.social•48 days ago

Yeah this shit with moving your social security number to the “dead” column is horrifying

mbbarber916.bsky.social•48 days ago

The company that provides these databases still has the content. Just no one in Mississippi will be able to view them through the state-paid interface.
That’s if they will have any content at all, of course. The federal agency that supports states for resources like these has been DOGE’d.

iainrowland.bsky.social•48 days ago

Hopefully someone's done an archive backup folder to be reintroduced to the wild in 4 years time

nyodettemaxxer.bsky.social•48 days ago

The advantage though is that digital content is more easily archived, so at the very least we don't risk the permanent destruction of knowledge.

oppositionista.bsky.social•48 days ago

kutzcole.bsky.social•48 days ago

I don’t recognize this country anymore.

vantablackpharaoh.bsky.social•48 days ago

So which one of you people in Mississippi are downloading this and uploading it to the Internet Archives?

manuele.bsky.social•48 days ago

Mississippi is back to its roots.

alacre.bsky.social•48 days ago

Before long the internet will be flooded with lies and distractions. Treasure your book collection instead.

isobelstarling.bsky.social•48 days ago

It already is flooded with lies and distractions. The future is now!

alladonis.bsky.social•48 days ago

Humans were fools to trust the cloud.

flicksfan.bsky.social•48 days ago

This cloud?
https://aws.amazon.com/products/storage/

ceemor0.bsky.social•48 days ago

Well would gender include MEN because you know they are sure including women

basedbot.bsky.social•48 days ago

There are groups actively hoarding data in an effort to preserve history, but you're right.

katrina-cheshire.bsky.social•48 days ago

Good!

milessebastian.bsky.social•48 days ago

If I was a Librarian, I'd be taking USB drives home. Pack them away in a closet for better times. Preserving the past from Fahrenheit 451.

throwaway221.bsky.social•48 days ago

Digital doom.

vantablackpharaoh.bsky.social•48 days ago

And what are you doing to stop it besides posting literally the word doom?

My god, the Doomers aren't even trying anymore...

susankayequinn.bsky.social•48 days ago

The question is always and forever: yeah ok but what action are you taking?

dragontsd.bsky.social•48 days ago

"They dont have to burn the books they just remove 'em"

dragonsegg.bsky.social•48 days ago

Omg… This shit is terrifying & I’m a Canadian living IN Canada.
Erasing knowledge, Ideas, history, only ever leads to harm, to lives ruined.

carolynelsey.bsky.social•48 days ago

I hope there’s hackers out there who can copy/steal this info before it’s gone.

susankayequinn.bsky.social•48 days ago

Scientists have been downloading and archiving data ever since Trump was elected. I think the book folks (including me) didn’t think he would be *able* to do anything like “order the library to delete the books” and people would comply.

carolynelsey.bsky.social•48 days ago

I hope there’s hackers altruistic enough to rescue this data. And maybe an employee who “accidentally” forgets to logout or something.

historianjenfl.bsky.social•48 days ago

Scholars have been downloading stuff since the election. I’ve secured everything in my area of research in multiple locations, both cloud based and external hard drives.

katrina-cheshire.bsky.social•48 days ago

Thank goodness! Well done!!! I was hoping that was happening!

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