Yesterday, the CIA made the surprising decision to shut down the World Factbook after more than sixty years of operation. This move was not just a simple website update. By removing the site and setting up redirects that lead away from historical data, the agency effectively broke millions of links used in schools, news reports, and scientific research. The takedown also removed all historical archives of the World Factbook. The loss of this resource is a significant blow to the world of open data and public knowledge.
The World Factbook began in 1962 as a secret tool for intelligence officers but eventually became the most popular public reference for global information. Its value was rooted in the fact that it was a public domain resource. Unlike private encyclopedias, anyone could use Factbook data for free without asking for permission and it became a standard reference material in school libraries. When I was a kid, we had both print and CD-ROM versions available to use in school projects at Errol Consolidated Elementary School in New Hampshire. It provided an accessible way to look at statistics about every country on Earth, covering everything from geography, to health, to government structures. One of the coolest features was the public domain photographs and documents that CIA operatives contributed from their field operations.
