Renascer project of the FCCN Unity service that preserves millions of files collected from the web since the 1990s allows "bringing back historic websites".
Many organizations keep domains in their possession that referenced old websites, which are now unused. This can be a way to avoid the domains being bought, for example, or it can just be due to forgetfulness.
The new Arquivo.pt project acts in this field, "bringing back historical websites whose content is no longer available online and whose domain is still held by its authors," explains this FCCN Unit service, on its website. This is a way, adds Arquivo.pt, to avoid that cybersecurity problems may occur, in cases where the web servers to which the domains point are not updated.
Reborn Project: How are websites reborn?
The case of the Harvard Medical School-Portugal project is offered as an example. In May 2023, the domain hmsportugal.pt pointed only to a predefined page of an active web server. The result of this context is that the original content of the website was inaccessible, although the domain was still held by its author. For that reason, it would be possible to point to the website contents preserved at Arquivo.pt.
To use Renascer, the domain owner only needs to redirect it to Arquivo.pt, through the Memorial service. Another example provided concerns the mctes. pt site - an old version of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education site, which is now available for visiting and browsing.
For examples of other "reborn" websites, visit the Arquivo.pt webpage: https://sobre.arquivo.pt/pt/projeto-renascer-traz-de-volta-websites-antigos/
