From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Brewster Kahle speaking 20 November 2002

Brewster Kahle (rhymes with 'kale', (IPA: /keɪl/) is a U.S. internet entrepreneur, activist and digital librarian. He was an early member of the Thinking Machines team, where he invented the WAIS system. He later started WAIS, Inc. (sold to AOL), the nonprofit Internet Archive, and the related for-profit Alexa Internet (sold to Amazon.com). He continues as Director of the Internet Archive as of 2007. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Electronic Frontier Foundation and a key supporter of the Open Content Alliance. His stated goal is "Universal Access to all Knowledge".

Kahle is a plaintiff, along with film archivist and fellow Internet Archive contributor Rick Prelinger, in the court case Kahle v. Gonzales (formerly Kahle v. Ashcroft). The plaintiffs in that case asserted that the striking of the renewal requirement on copyrighted works (in the Berne Convention Implementation Act and Copyright Term Extension Act) stands in violation of the First Amendment by preventing orphaned works from entering the public domain. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the plaintiffs' arguments in an opinion issued January 22, 2007.

In 2005, Kahle was elected to a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. [1]

Kahle and his wife created the Kahle/Austin Foundation, a US$45 million trust which in 2003 gave US$1,787,175 to Internet Archive.

Kahle graduated from MIT in 1982 with an SB degree in Computer Science & Engineering where he was a member of the Chi Phi Fraternity. The emphasis of his studies was artificial intelligence; he studied under Marvin Minsky and W. Daniel Hillis.

• The Internet Archive
• O'Reilly Network: How the Wayback Machine Works - 21 January 2002
• O'Reilly Network: Brewster Kahle on the Internet Archive and People's Technology - Interview by Lisa Rein. 22 January 2004
• ACM Queue: A Conversation with Brewster Kahle - June 2004
• Slate - The Archivist: Brewster Kahle made a copy of the Internet. Now, he wants your files. - 07 April 2005
• San Francisco Chronicle - A Man's vision: World Library Online - 22 November 2005
• Brewster's Keynote at Wikimania 2006

• Library of Congress, Public Access to Digital Materials (RealVideo and slides) - 20 November 2002
• CSPAN - Digital Futures - Universal Access to All Knowledge - Video program of Brewster Kahle. 13 December 2004
• NerdTV Interview (video, audio, and transcript available) - 18 August 2005
• IT Conversations - Universal Access to All Knowledge - Audio program featuring Brewster Kahle. 16 December 2004
• IT Conversations - Tech Nation interview with Dr. Moira Gunn - 07 February 2006
• PBS NerdTV - Episode #4 An Interview with Brewster Kahle with Robert X. Cringley - 27 September 2005