I still remember when I first heard of the Internet Archive. I had a weird epiphany that all this stuff was being put online and then lost forever as time passed and sites were updated. People kept saying, no! Brewster's saving it all in the Presidio. I finally had to go visit this Brewster and his mysterious home for discarded bits. It was a lovely day, and Brewster and I took a walk around the scenic property (him barefoot) and talked about his vision for a digital library of Alexandria. He sold me and I signed on to help create the first Internet Bookmobile-- which could download and print children's books for less than $1 a book-- to demonstrate the value of the public domain.
He's now teamed up with Yahoo to help realize that dream and the NYT has reported on it. My favorite part is at the end when they talk about the difference between Yahoo and Google's digital libraries projects, and Brewster says:
The thing I want to have happen out of all this is have Google join in," he said. "I know we're dealing with archcompetitors, but if there's room for these guys to bend, by the time my kid goes to college, we could have a library system that is just astonishing.
Brewster and the Archive's vision is "Universal access to human knowledge." Who could argue with that goal?