Comment by steviedotboston
20 days ago
Since the world factbook was under the public domain, it would be possible for volunteers to build an archive site of it. It wouldn't be updated under the purview of the CIA but at least the most recent content would be easily accessible.
I have that up and running now for the 2020 edition: https://simonw.github.io/cia-world-factbook-2020 - repo here: https://github.com/simonw/cia-world-factbook-2020/
That was the last year they published it all in one convenient zip file. Serving 2026 requires a longer running scrape of the Internet Archive.
There I go, hoarding data again.
Thanks, stranger.
> it would be possible for volunteers to build an archive site of it
It would. But you are forgetting the whole editorial trust thing, which is what made it so useful and well cited.
I'm not suggesting continued changes, but just preservation.