1990 Web Archive

01 Introduction

Welcome to the 1990 Web Archive. These terms govern your access to and use of our archived web content, metadata, APIs, and downloadable datasets. By querying our archive, using our public API, or downloading archived materials, you acknowledge and agree to be bound by this license agreement.

The 1990 Web Archive is a non-profit digital preservation initiative dedicated to safeguarding the early internet for historical, educational, and research purposes. Our mission is to ensure that the cultural and technical heritage of the web's formative years remains accessible to all.

02 Copyright & Ownership

All content hosted on the 1990 Web Archive is subject to copyright law. Ownership is distributed as follows:

Original Web Content: Remains the property of the respective authors, webmasters, or original copyright holders.
Archive Metadata & Indexes: Copyright © 1990 Web Archive. This includes crawl timestamps, structural mapping, restoration notes, and cataloging data.
Platform & UI: The website interface, crawling infrastructure, and archival software are proprietary to 1990 Web Archive.

Note: The existence of content in this archive does not constitute a waiver of copyright, nor does it grant commercial exploitation rights without explicit permission. Respect for original creators is foundational to our mission.

03 Content License

Unless otherwise specified by the original creator or explicitly marked with a different license, all archived web pages, images, and media files are available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) license.

This permits you to:

Share and adapt the material for non-commercial purposes
Use content for academic research, educational projects, or personal archives
Create derivative works (e.g., retro web recreations, historical analyses)

Subject to the following conditions:

Appropriate attribution must be provided
No commercial use without prior written authorization
Indicate if changes were made to the original archived snapshot

04 API & Data Usage

Our public API and bulk data exports are governed by specific technical and ethical constraints:

Rate Limits: Unauthenticated requests are limited to 60 requests per minute. API keys may request higher quotas for verified research institutions.
No Scraping: Automated bulk downloading without using our official export endpoints is prohibited. We reserve the right to throttle or block violating IPs.
Data Integrity: Exported datasets must not be altered in ways that misrepresent the original archival context or timeline.
AI/ML Training: Use of archived content for training machine learning models, generative AI, or large language models requires a separate Commercial AI License.

05 Attribution Requirements

When using archived materials, you must provide clear and visible attribution in the following format:

"Archived page snapshot from [Original URL] preserved by 1990 Web Archive.
Retrieved on [Date] via Archive ID: [ID#].
© [Original Author/Copyright Holder, if known]. Available under CC BY-NC 4.0."

For digital publications or websites, a clickable link to https://1990webarchive.com is required. For print or offline media, a full citation with archive URL and snapshot timestamp must be included.

06 Restrictions

To protect the integrity of the archive and respect original creators, the following activities are strictly prohibited:

Reselling, redistributing, or monetizing archived content without explicit commercial licensing
Using archive content to impersonate original websites or deceive users
Circumventing access controls, authentication systems, or rate limits
Hosting mirrored copies on public domains that compete with our preservation efforts
Attempting to reverse-engineer our crawling or restoration algorithms

07 Disclaimer & Limitation of Liability

The 1990 Web Archive provides historical snapshots "as-is" without warranty of any kind, express or implied. We do not guarantee:

The complete accuracy, functionality, or security of archived pages
That broken links, missing assets, or deprecated technologies will be fully restored
That all copyright claims have been verified for every archived URL

To the fullest extent permitted by law, 1990 Web Archive and its contributors shall not be liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, or consequential damages arising from the use of our archive, API, or datasets.

08 Commercial Licensing & Contact

For commercial usage, high-volume data access, AI/ML training datasets, or custom preservation services, please contact our licensing department.

📧 Email: license@1990webarchive.com
🏢 Address: 1990 Web Archive Foundation, Digital Heritage Division
🔐 PGP Key: Available upon request for secure correspondence

Research Partners: Academic institutions and non-profit historical societies may apply for extended access and waived commercial restrictions. Visit our Research Portal for details.