ARTICLE · 08 DECEMBER 2024

The WayForward: the admissibility of ‘WayBack Machine' evidence

McCabes

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The Wayback Machine is an internet-based service available here, maintained by the Internet Archive.

AustraliaLitigation, Mediation & Arbitration

Gus Skavronskas

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What is the 'Wayback Machine'

The Wayback Machine is an internet-based service available here, maintained by the Internet Archive which stores archived versions of historical web pages.

The Wayback Machine makes it possible to 'surf' billions of webpages stored in its web archive. Visitors to the website seeking to search an archived website can do so by the URL for the site. If the archive maintained by the Wayback Machine contains webpages for the nominated web address being searched, the user will be presented with a list of dates for that website held within the archive. The user can then select one of those dates for retrieval and the Wayback Machine will display the website at that date as contained within the archive. The user can then access that website and its webpages according to the tabs and links and protocols adopted on that website such that the user can then begin surfing on the archived version of the site.

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