Ask HN: How would you make a service to store digital files for 500 years?
3 by chippy | 2 comments on Hacker News.
Lets say you wanted to set up an organisation or archive that promised to keep documents, images etc for at least 500 years. You could charge clients money to store stuff. Material can optionally made public, and/or set to be public after a certain date (e.g. expiry of copyright). The organisation should be expected to continue to operate in future years and receive material. The archive should be resistant to geographical political and technological upheavals, but operate in compliance with international laws. The key selling point is that unlike every other service that has been before, this will never stop hosting it. Technology: How would you choose the right tech to ensure durability and stability over time. I imagine things would need to be upgraded, but things do degrade as well. I'm possibly thinking it may also offer a premium service to offer real cold storage to store digital material even to survive a global catastrophe. How should such things be stored? How would you set up the organisation? Should it be non profit? How would it be funded? I expect most clients would want to pay initially, but I also expect the clients and their organisations to have gone extinct before the 500 years are up. Ownership would probably be done via legal deeds. How could a guarantee of at least 500 years be granted now if the organisation doesn't have enough funds to set everything up. How would an organisation be established which could guarantee the mission from the start? Far too often we see noble and good technology companies get compromised over time. How can this be resistant to that? I imagine it would be running when I die, and when my successors die. How can I ensure, now, that the organisation continues with the same mission? What would be the best way to set up the infrastructure to be resistant to political upheavals around the world, whilst still abiding by international laws? (e.g. copyright).