URMA. GitHub

CASE STUDIES / WHEN THE ROUTE TO THE RECORD BROKE

Four times the route
to the record was cut.

Hosting withdrawn. Devices seized. A publisher shut. Platform posts deleted.

DECEMBER 2010 · HOSTING, DNS, PAYMENTS

Hosting, DNS and payments cut in the same month. The copies stayed up.

  1. HostingAmazon stopped hosting, 1 DecCut
  2. DomainEveryDNS dropped wikileaks.org, 2 DecCut
  3. PaymentsVisa, MasterCard, PayPal suspendedCut
  4. CopiesMirrors stayed reachableStays

Amazon dropped WikiLeaks on 1 December after questions from congressional staff; Senator Lieberman praised the move. Hosting continued at Sweden’s Bahnhof. On 2 December EveryDNS cut wikileaks.org, citing DDoS traffic against its other customers. Visa, MasterCard and PayPal suspended service the same week. Mirrors kept serving the material throughout.

Sources: Associated Press via Phys.org · 3 Dec 2010 · The Register · 3 Dec 2010 · WIRED · 9 Dec 2010

What URMA changes: a confirmed record sits in chain history, so no single host, registrar or company has to keep cooperating for it to be recovered.

AUGUST 2023 · DEVICE SEIZURE · KANSAS, USA

Police took the newsroom’s hardware. The files went with it.

  1. DevicesComputers, phones seized, 11 AugCut
  2. ServerOffice file server seizedCut
  3. Work productReporting material takenCut
  4. Off-site copiesOnly what was already elsewhereStays

On 11 August 2023 law enforcement searched the Marion County Record and seized computers, phones, a file server and journalistic work product. The paper said the raid threatened its ability to print that week’s edition.

Source: U.S. Press Freedom Tracker · newsroom seizure record

What URMA changes: records published before the raid are recoverable from chain history with the compartment key, not from the hardware that was carried out.

JUNE 2021 · ARCHIVE ACCESS · HONG KONG

The publisher closed. The archive went offline with it.

  1. CompanyRaids, arrests, assets frozenCut
  2. PrintLast edition, 24 JunCut
  3. Digital editionTaken offline, 23 JunCut
  4. Independent copiesWhat readers had savedStays

After raids, arrests and the freezing of company assets, Apple Daily closed in June 2021. The final printed edition ran on 24 June; the paper announced its digital edition would go offline on 23 June.

Source: Wikipedia · Apple Daily raids and arrests

What URMA changes: a record confirmed on chain stays in history after the publisher’s servers, domain and company are gone.

SEPTEMBER 2020 · PLATFORM REMOVALS · HRW REPORT

One in nine cited posts was gone when HRW went back.

  1. Platform post619 cited posts removedCut
  2. CitationReport links resolve to nothingCut
  3. Remaining sample4,777 still online at reviewStays
619of 5,396 cited posts removed
11%of cited posts

Human Rights Watch reviewed 5,396 pieces of Facebook, Twitter and YouTube content cited in 4,739 of its reports since 2007. 619 of them, 11%, had been removed. HRW called for independent preservation of potential evidence with access safeguards.

Source: Human Rights Watch · 10 Sep 2020

What URMA changes: a confirmed record cannot be individually deleted from chain history by the platform, the author or anyone else.

THE PATTERN

Every case lost a layer
URMA does not need.

Hosting, domains, accounts, devices. A confirmed record depends on none of them.

What gets cut, what stays