Internet Archive Wayback / CDX: addressable objects

Addressable object kinds

The identity of an object is wayback:<kind>:<canonical native identifier>. It is the provider’s own identifier inside the provider’s own namespace. It is never derived from a title, a hostname, an address, or a string match, and it is not a Counterpedia identity.

• Wayback snapshot

  Native identifier

  Snapshot timestamp and original URL

  Accepted form

  a 14-digit UTC timestamp (YYYYMMDDhhmmss), a slash, then the original URL exactly as the archive indexes it

  Canonical spelling

  None. Neither the timestamp nor the URL is shortened, rewritten, or normalized, so two spellings of one URL are two identities.

  Route

  /providers/wayback/objects/snapshot/<canonical native identifier>

  • A snapshot names an index entry at the Wayback Machine. It is not a copy held by Counterpedia, and it is not the live page or its original publisher.
  • The archive's own capture key also includes a transformed URL key that this scheme does not compute.
  Identifier shape taken from provider documentation:

  • https://github.com/internetarchive/wayback/blob/master/wayback-cdx-server/README.md

Implemented by Counterpedia’s adapter

Two separate lists from two separate artifacts. What a service offers is not what an adapter implements, and neither list is derived from the other.

What the service offers (provider capabilities)

• Search
• Metadata lookup
• Primary locator

From the pinned inventory. It describes the service, not any adapter.

What the landed adapter declares (implemented capabilities)

none

No adapter: nothing implemented

Adapter manifest (canonical sha256)

none pinned

The inventory records no adapter for this provider. Nothing is implemented.

Six distinct object families

These are different kinds of thing with different owners. None is an alias of, or a step toward, another; moving from one to the next is a separate act with its own record.

1. Provider — owned by the pinned provider inventory.
   An external service that can help discover sources. Not: A source, and not any object the service holds.
2. Provider object — owned by the provider (its own native identifier).
   One object in a provider's own system, named by the provider's native identifier within that provider's namespace. Not: A Source Record. It carries no Counterpedia source identity and is not evidence, support, or admitted.
3. Discovery observation — owned by Source Intelligence (a sealed record of one provider call).
   What a provider reported at a stated time for one query. Not: A finding that the reported thing exists or is as described, and not a capture.
4. Candidate locator — owned by Source Intelligence (descends from a discovery observation).
   An address a discovery observation turned up as a candidate. Not: Source identity, and not a reason to fetch, trust, or admit what it points at.
5. Captured artifact — owned by Acquisition (exact bytes, with a digest).
   Bytes that were actually retained from one locator at one time. Not: Admitted, supported, authentic, or current by being retained.
6. Source Record — owned by the Counterpedia Source Registry (governed).
   A governed Counterpedia record with its own source identity, capture posture, and admission. Not: Created by addressing, resolving, or listing anything here.