[Air-L] News sites are locking out the Internet Archive to stop AI crawling. Is the ‘open web’ closing?

[Caroline James-Garrod]

Thanks Tai. Very important to know.

Best wishes to you,

Caroline

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________________________________
From: Air-L <air-l-bounces at listserv.aoir.org> on behalf of Tai Neilson via Air-L <air-l at listserv.aoir.org>
Sent: Thursday, February 5, 2026 7:38:18 PM
To: air-l at listserv.aoir.org <air-l at listserv.aoir.org>
Subject: [Air-L] News sites are locking out the Internet Archive to stop AI crawling. Is the ‘open web’ closing?

Dear AoIR community,
Apologies for cross‑posting, but I wanted to share a recent article of mine in The Conversation: News sites are locking out the Internet Archive to stop AI crawling. Is the ‘open web’ closing?<https://theconversation.com/news-sites-are-locking-out-the-internet-archive-to-stop-ai-crawling-is-the-open-web-closing-274968>
It addresses the further enclosure of the internet, commodification of publishers' archives as AI training data, and the resulting challenges for nonprofits and internet research. I hope you find it useful.
Cheers,
Tai


Tai Neilson, PhD
Senior Lecturer in Media
Major Coordinator of Journalism and Nonfiction Writing
MACQUARIE UNIVERSITY NSW 2109
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