International Amateur Scanning League will rescue our video treasures!

Cory Doctorow 11:25 pm Thu Feb 11, 2010

Rogue archivist Carl Malamud sez,

Boing Boing readers may be familiar with the FedFlix program, where Public.Resource.Org obtains government video and makes it available on YouTube, the Internet Archive, and our own Public Domain Stock Footage Library.

We took a big step forward today with the birth of a new club in Washington, the International Amateur Scanning League. These volunteers, organized by members of the DC CopyNight and by employees of the Smithsonian doing volunteer work after hours, is going out to the National Archives and Records Administration and copying over 1,500 DVDs to be uploaded to the net.

What makes this grassroots digitization effort so remarkable is that it has the full support of the government. Indeed, David Ferriero, the U.S. Archivist, joined me in the initial meeting where we taught volunteers how to rip DVDs!

You can read more about this new effort on my announcement at Radar O'Reilly and we posted photos of the initial meeting, which was hosted at the Sunlight Foundation in the middle of the Washington blizzard.

International Amateur Scanning League

Previously:

Ransom America's public domain video treasures back from the National Archives!
Watch America's public domain video treasures, rescue the public domain from paywalls
Watch the 1967 Bob Hope special, save America's public domain videos
Progress report on liberating America's video archives

How we can win on Net Neutrality in Congress!

Two days ago, the Senate voted to overrule Trump FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and restore Net Neutrality; it was an incredible victory, but unless the same motion passes in the… READ THE REST
ACT NOW: Only hours remain to stop Congress from sneaking in massive new NSA spying powers

There's only hours remaining before Congress will vote to renew the Section 702 powers that let the NSA conduct mass surveillance; powers that expand in 12 days. READ THE REST
Spend 5 minutes, help save our society

This amazingly handy website pretty much holds your digital hand through the process of calling your representatives. Take five minutes, call your reps. 5 Calls READ THE REST
Short Post, just one paragraph

Dessert cheesecake wafer bear claw fruitcake. Fruitcake chupa chups donut candy canes marzipan. Apple pie sweet roll tart chocolate cake macaroon marshmallow carrot cake gummi bears sweet. Pastry sugar plum… READ THE REST
Save 50% on a 1-year subscription to Dashlane's premium password manager

We all know vital information about ourselves and our private digital accounts can be compromised by cybercriminals. However, many would be frightened to know just how compromised they and their… READ THE REST
The Bite Helper removes the itch of a mosquito bite in seconds

While mosquitoes have certainly earned their title as the deadliest animal on earth, their impact on most of our lives is usually a lot less consequential. But even though they… READ THE REST