Safeguar.de: a European initiative that secures U.S. data
Safeguar.de: a European initiative that secures U.S. data
Since a new political wind began blowing in the United States, we in Europe have been confronted almost daily with decisions, tweets, or news reports from the American authorities that send shivers down many people’s spines. One of the most striking—and potentially irreversible—decisions involves the order to take offline documents, websites, archives, scientific articles, data collections, and other information that the Trump regime classifies as ‘woke’. This includes not only information categorised under ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion’ but also climate datasets, art projects, historical research, and more.
Since April this year, BIT has been supporting the Safeguar.de project. The group of volunteers behind this initiative are working to secure data and information at risk of being permanently deleted from American servers. This team of scientists and activists identifies which data is under threat and ensures it is backed up in locations beyond the legal jurisdiction of the US government.
One of these backup locations is in one of our data centres in Ede. BIT has provided Safeguar.de with a free rack, along with power and data traffic, where equipment has been installed to copy vulnerable datasets.
The request came via Björn Wijers, a board member of the Open Nederland Association. He reached out to us in early April, asking whether BIT could contribute to the project. Regarding his motivation, he writes:
“Every day, we hear about the drastic measures taken by the Trump administration in the US. Not only in America but also in Europe and the Netherlands, people are deeply concerned about the undermining of American institutions and the ‘digital book burnings’ now taking place. From climate data to cultural heritage, everything must conform to President Trump’s MAGA worldview. If not, funding is withdrawn, people are fired, and websites are taken offline. The impact of this extends far beyond America, which is why we in Europe must act quickly to secure data.
I happened to come across Henrik Schönneman—a historian at Humboldt University in Berlin—on Mastodon, who was already taking action on this. A few weeks later, I saw him featured in a Nieuwsuur report. I got in touch with him, and since then, I’ve been trying to contribute to his ‘Safeguarding Research & Culture (SRC)’ initiative through the Open Nederland Association.
It would be great if the well-known institutions and archives in the Netherlands and Europe also took action, but they seem to be moving at a different pace. For now, we’re working hard to secure as much data as possible, so we can hopefully collaborate with existing institutions and archives in the near future to preserve this data long-term.
We’re very pleased that BIT is helping us safeguard data in the short term by sponsoring a rack, including power and data traffic.”
The infrastructure provided by BIT is already being put to good use. However, there is a need for expansion. That’s why we’re calling on organisations and individuals to support this initiative. You can do so by contacting the organisation at contact@safeguar.de or by temporarily providing hardware.
There is still plenty of space in the rack for Safeguar.de, and our network also has ample capacity. We’re making this space available to individuals and organisations who wish to support the project by lending hardware. There’s a particular need for rack-mountable equipment with high storage capacity. BIT will cover the costs of colocation and data traffic for this equipment.
Would you or your organisation like to contribute to safeguarding at-risk information? Then please get in touch—we’d love to hear from you!
By: Wido Potters
