Thememoryhole.org

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Thememoryhole.org is a website, run by self-proclaimed archivist Russ Kick, that mirrors or otherwise makes available material that has been removed from view by its owners. The name of the site refers to Orwell's 1984, wherein the all-powerful government sought to write its own history by making all information they disagreed with disappear "down the memory hole".

The site uses the Freedom of Information Act to obtain many of its documents, and Mr Kick's astute use of this act has led to over eight hundred Freedom of Information Act requests. The site began his FOIA request for the FBI to release classified documents on the Coumbine High School shootings, resulting in over two hundred pages of declassified pages. Most noticeably, his ongoing investigations have resulted in the 2004 release of photographs from Dover AFB of US forces' coffins. With the release of the 300 photos of coffins, his site and photos were immediately featured in the prominent New York Times and he was interviewed for ABC's Good Morning America.

Thememoryhole is perhaps one of the leading examples of "alternative" news sources using the internet to bypass what is seen as many as an unwillingness of the "traditional" media to tackle or report certain issues.