What happened to all of the content posted on social media platforms and blogs — like MySpace and LiveJournal — more than two decades ago?
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Social media and publishing platform users have generated vast amounts of data. This data remains online long after people have stopped using the platforms, and can impact people’s lives.
The internet is growing, but old information continues to disappear daily.
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MySpace users were recently shocked to learn that the company lost 50 million user files. It’s a harsh lesson in not leaving your intellectual property unprotected on the information superhighway.
Big Daddy Kane performing at NPR Music’s Tiny Desk Concert.
Claire Harbage/NPR
The Communications Decency Act was passed in 1996, seven years before the debut of MySpace. It helped online publishing grow – and to escape consequences for the way users might be harmed.
In the mid-1990s, body modification enthusiasts – a long-ostracized subculture – created an online community that incorporated blogs, dating and wikis.
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Even though Facebook claims to be a global community, its rise has come at the expense of online subcultures for marginalized people, from body modification enthusiasts to drag queens.
Need you announce you’ve been hacked? The clock is ticking.
Woman with clock and megaphone via shutterstock.com