**Summary: The FBI’s Investigation into Archive.is, Legal Pressure, and a Mysterious French Organization**
Recently, new information has emerged regarding the FBI’s ongoing investigation into Archive.is (also known as Archive.today), a popular web archiving service. This site allows users to save permanent “snapshots” of web pages, which can be invaluable for preserving content that might otherwise be deleted or altered. However, the service’s ability to bypass paywalls has made it controversial, especially among media organizations that rely on subscription revenue.
**FBI Steps In**
Archive.is was launched in 2012 by someone using the name Denis Petrov, though it is unclear whether this is the founder’s true identity. The site itself does not host original content but stores copies of existing web pages at users’ requests. In a recent development, the FBI subpoenaed the site’s domain registrar, seeking information about the individual running Archive.is. The reason cited was an ongoing “federal criminal investigation,” though the specific nature of the alleged crime has not been officially disclosed. There is speculation that the investigation could relate to copyright infringement or the dissemination of child sexual abuse material (CSAM), both of which are serious concerns for law enforcement.
**Pressure Mounting from Multiple Fronts**
While the FBI’s inquiry is significant, Archive.is and its infrastructure partners have also come under pressure from other organizations. In particular, AdGuard DNS—a service that allows users to block unwanted domains at the network level—was recently contacted by a group calling itself the Web Abuse Association Defense (WAAD). WAAD, a French organization, claimed to be dedicated to fighting child pornography and demanded that AdGuard DNS block access to Archive.today and its mirrors. They alleged that Archive.is’s administrator had refused to remove illegal content since 2023.
This request was unusual for several reasons. AdGuard DNS is not a web hosting provider; rather, it acts at the infrastructure level, typically filtering domains based on user settings or established blocklists. It is rare for such a service to be directly pressured to block a specific site, especially by a non-governmental organization. WAAD’s approach quickly escalated into what AdGuard described as direct threats, urging them to comply or face legal consequences.
**Legal and Regulatory Complications**
Upon consulting legal experts, AdGuard discovered that French law, specifically Article 6-I-7 of the Loi pour la Confiance dans l'Économie Numérique (LCEN), could indeed obligate them to block access to sites hosting illegal content, at least for users based in France. This law is designed to combat the spread of unlawful material online but has been criticized for putting the burden of determining illegality on private companies instead of courts. AdGuard expressed concern that such regulations are inadequate, arguing that decisions about what constitutes “illegal” content should be made judiciously, not under threat from private entities.
**Contacting Archive.is for Clarification**
Given the mounting pressure, AdGuard decided to