NSA Claims It Can’t Watch a Tape It Recorded in the 1980s
NSA Claims It Can’t Watch a Tape It Recorded in the 1980s
The agency is sitting on a piece of computer history, but won’t release it because it doesn’t have the right kind of tape player.
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Whoopsie! History just slips through your fingers like sand sometimes, huh?
Complete incompetence that it wasn't digitized already.
That tape is old and degrading. If it's not digitized soon, it will be lost.
I don't think tapes degrade that fast. Yes, the quality will get slightly worse but it can be played until it becomes too brittle.
Video tape isn't really that durable over time. Most of the info I can find comes from digitization services, but they are fairly consistent in saying that, for tapes that are stored in "normal" conditions, you can expect 10-25% degradation in 20 years. These tapes are 40 years old. They have likely degraded significantly already and may fall apart when played.
These bad boys have been screaming for preservation since the 90's tbh. There's no reason this shouldn't be public domain. Its our history, its computer history.
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