The Eternal Access Project was launched for two paimary reasons. First, we believe censorship is inherently dangerous and threatening to human rights in general. In the United States, the resurgence of book banning in schools, libraries, and other public resources in recent years presents an alarming and unacceptable advancement of willful ignorance and oppression. Our goal is to collect and preserve digital copies of banned or threatened books and documents, securely protected for the benefit of future generations. The words and ideas will be preserved forat least the next 2,000 years or possibly foor all eternity. Second, beyond the physical preservation of information, we want to make make a clear, unequivocal statement to oppressors of ideas and free thought that the very books and works they seek to extinguish, erase, or eradicate now will live far beyond the lives of the oppressors and their personal or party agendas. To those who strive to keep others in the dark for personal gain, we say this; You lose.

No, the Eternal Access Project is a grassroots initiative started by indiviuals who are taking a stand against censorship, book challenges, and book banning. This is a self-funded endeavor. Income or donations received, if any, will be used to offset operating expenses incurred by the Eternal Access Project.

Maybe. We welome the support of reliable individuals who can assist the Eternal Access Project in any of the following areas: 1. Online Research, including database management of prospective works to be included in the Eternal Access Project’s collection. 2. Rights management, including managing outreach efforts to contemporary authors and publishers to obtain permissions for inclusion in the Eternal Access Project’s collection. 3. Communications and public relations Please send a resume and cover letter to [ ]. We will respond promptly to your inquiry and appreciate your interest.

In an age where data represents both our legacy and our future, the Arctic World Archive’s permafrost storage offers a bespoke combination of security, environmental responsibility, and cultural preservation. The Eternal Access Project will have a legacy that spans centuries, ensuring the endurance of information and ideas for generations to come.

The term book banning isn’t the most accurate way to describe what happens when parents, community members, organizations or school board members decide that certain groups shouldn’t be permitted to access a book. In an October 19, 2023 Readers Digest article written by Elizabeth Yuko, Emily Knox, PhD, an associate professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign’s School of Information Science and the author of Book Banning in 21st-Century America explained, “What people do is bring a challenge against a book,” Knox explains. “Generally, this is done by filling out a ‘request for reconsideration’ form with their public institution—usually a public library or public school. And that starts the process of having the book reconsidered. Books are really only banned if they are removed.” For this reason, instead of using “book banning” as an imprecise catchall term, Knox prefers to speak about “people engaging in censorship practices,” via what she refers to as the four Rs: Redaction: “When you put a line through something because you don’t like that word, or you cover up an image if you don’t like that particular image,” she explains. Relocation: “When you remove something from its intended audience [and aim it at] a different audience,” she says. “This is when people say, ‘This book isn’t appropriate for 7-year-olds; it needs to be in the [young-adult] section.'” Restriction: “When you require permission to read something,” she says. Removal: “What most people think about when they hear ‘book banning’—it’s saying, ‘This book needs to be removed from the collection, from the curriculum, from my sight,'” she says. As far as who has the authority to ban books, it depends on the institution where a book is located. “If you’re thinking about a school, it is generally the school board who will give the final approval on whether or not it will be included in the school curriculum, the school library or on a suggested reading list,” says Knox. “Those are all very different, so most school districts have a committee that will give a recommendation to the board, and then the board will decide. Generally, public libraries work the same way.” Source: https://www.rd.com/article/book-banning/

A challenge is an attempt to remove or restrict materials, based upon the objections of a person or group. A banning is the removal of those materials. Challenges do not simply involve a person expressing a point of view; rather, they are an attempt to remove material from the curriculum or library, thereby restricting the access of others. Due to the commitment of librarians, teachers, parents, students and other concerned citizens, most challenges are unsuccessful and most materials are retained in the school curriculum or library collection. Source: https://www.ala.org/advocacy/bbooks/banned-books-qa

Yes, we are always willing to consider adding books that are at risk of censorship, challenge, or banning. We recommend you review our current catalog of collected titles to ensure we have not already included your recommendation. We ask that you provide citeable background or reference information that presents evidence your recommended title should be included. We will conduct our own review and, if appropriate, contact the author or their publisher for permission to include their title in the Eternal Access Project’s collection.

Yes, we are always willing to consider adding books that are at risk of censorship, challenge, or banning. We recommend you review our current catalog of collected titles to ensure we have not already included your recommendation. We ask that you provide citable background or reference information that presents evidence your recommended title should be included. We will conduct our own review and, if appropriate, contact the author or their publisher for permission to include their title in the Eternal Access Project’s collection. To submit a title or work for review by our curation team, please complete the submission form on the Contact Us page.

In our service agreement with the Arctic World Archive, we have provided permission and instructions for our collection to be accessible by the public in the future. The stored data is read-only and immutable, meaning it cannot be altered in any manner, to ensure the integrity and content of the digital copies to be shared. No person or entity can attempt to alter the content, thus ensuring that future generations will be able to read what the original authors wrote, the way they intended.

There is no singular authority or reference list of banned or threatened books so we identify titles from a variety of sources, including; - Amerian Library Association - PEN America - American Civil Liberties Union - News reports - Academic research papers - Submissions identified by the general public and brought to our attention with supporting evidence - Other sources on an ad-hoc basis

AWA uses secure HTTPS file transfer with TLS 1.2, 256-bit AES encryption and SHA384. The files are also securly encypted on the AWA cloud using FIPS 140-2 compliant 256-bit AES encryption.

Digital files are preserve in the storage facilities of the Arctir World Archive’s (AWA) long-term storage facilities in Svalbard, Norway, which is the northernmost city in the world. Svalbardi literally means “the land with the cold shores”. Svalbard is a Norwegian archipelago in the Arctic Ocean. Located on top of the world, it contains endless areas of unspoilt, raw Arctic wilderness. Svalbard consists of all the islands, islets and skerries between 74° and 81° north latitude and 10° and 35° east longitude. The largest island is Spitsbergen, while the highest mountain is Newtontoppen (1,713 m above sea level). This remoteness reduces vulnerability to physical threats such as natural disasters, theft, or vandalism, ensuring the security of the data. AWA’s facility provides an unparalleled level of protection against the ravages of time, natural disasters, and data breaches. AWA is located deep in the centre of the permafrost, 300 meters inside and 300 meters below the top of the mountain.

Multiple layers of security measures are in place to ensure the data’s safety and protection and the security measures are meticulously designed to keep the data safe and secure. The geographic location itself is naturally remote and isolated. The presence of feral polar bears in the area acts as a natural deterrent to unauthorized access. To accessss the physical storage media, several secure doors must be passed through to access the Eternal Access Project’s valuable data.

Polar bears are the world’s largest land carnivores and for many people they have become a symbol of the arctic wilderness. The size of a grown- up bear varies from 200 to 800 kg. Humans are considered an alien element in polar bear habitat. The polar bear is incredibly strong and even young animals under 100 kg can be very aggressive and dangerous. The polar bear has been protected since 1973, and it is considered a criminal act to pursuit, allure, disturb or feed a polar bear. The Arctic World Archive’s location in the remote Svalbard wilderness, surrounded by polar bear habitats, provides an additional layer of security that deters unauthorized human contact with the AWA’s secure facility.

The Arctic World Archive's vault is located in a well-kept and secure commissioned mine, Mine no. 3 ("Gruve 3" in Norwegian), that is owned by Store Norske Spitsbergen Kulkompani (SNSK). SNSK has more than 100 years’ experience developing and operating mines and infrastructure on Svalbard and is owned by the Norwegian Ministry of Trade, Industry and Fisheries. SNSK is responsible for the operation and maintenance of the vault, including security and access control for AWA. The vault is protected according to best practice media vault security standards and is under alarm protection and video surveillance 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

The Arctic World Archive (AWA) houses historical manuscripts from diverse cultures and eras. AWA preserves indigenous cultures and their invaluable legacies. AWA also serves as the guardian of the world’s open-source software, offering a secure sanctuary for those critical digital assets. The constant sub-zero temperatures and permafrost act as natural data refrigeration, ensuring that stored information remains intact for centuries to come. The permafrost’s natural freezing temperatures offer an ideal environment for long-term data preservation. With consistent temperatures of approximately 26 defgrees Fahrenheit (or -3 degrees Celsius), digital data remains shielded from the degradation for centuries to come. Furthermore, this is the only data storage facility in the world with a zero-carbon footprint as the cold storage conditions are maintained naturally inside the arctic permafrost.

Permafrost is a permanently frozen layer below Earth’s surface. It consists of soil, gravel, and sand, usually bound together by ice. Permafrost covers the entire landmass of Svalbard, and only the top metre of earth thaws during the summer. The flora is subject to a very short growing season, low temperatures, lack of precipitation and a relatively barren ground soil. Furthermore, more than half of Svalbard is covered by glaciers. There are more than 2,100 glaciers of various sizes here, and almost 60% of the total area is covered by ice. The largest glaciers are called ice caps, and are found mainly on the eastern side of Svalbard. The largest ice cap is Austfonna on the island of Nordaustlandet. It covers an area of about 8450 km², and is the largest ice cap in the world if you don’t count the vast ice sheets in Antarctica and Greenland.

Copies of banned books and documents collected by the Eternal Access Project are stored digitally. Digital data is stored on piqlFilm (developed by Piql AS), a data storage medium that is robust, ultra-secure, non-hackable, immutable, self-contained, unalterable, and migration-free. AWA uses nano technologies to convert photo-sensitive 35mm film into an immutable digital preservation medium for the future. The piqlFilm is protected by the unique piqlBox which enables secure storage of the data. This makes it possible for the piqlFilm (and the data is contains) to survive the next 2,000 years. PiqlFilm has been tested with documented longevity of over 1,000 years. The target for AWA is to reach 2,000 years. PiqlFilm is also immune to electromagnetic radiation and cyberattacks. PiqlFilm is stored offline and off-grid. AWA provides secure access to data even in the most dire circumstances. The piqlFilm is a migration free, future proof and passive storage technology with a very low CO2 footprint that is extremely cost efficient and sustainable over time. The technology needs no servers, no migration, no electricity to keep the data alive for centuries. Storage conditions in AWA are ideal for piqlFilm, - cold, dry and dark. There is no need to cool or heat to keep data alive.