Breaking the internet

This podcast discusses the disappearance and reappearance of government websites under a new administration, highlighting the broader issue of "link rot" or digital decay on the internet. The interview features a senior editor from The Verge who explains how executive orders led to the removal of information related to certain topics, and a director from the Internet Archive who describes their efforts to archive web pages, including government ones, before they disappear. A key example is the disappearance and later reappearance (with disclaimers) of data on the CDC website. The discussion emphasizes the fragility of the internet and the importance of archiving efforts to preserve information for future generations, illustrating this with the example of a missing CDC webpage on bird flu. The podcast concludes by highlighting the challenges of comprehensive internet archiving and the potential loss of valuable historical and scientific data.