Using Internet Archive / Wayback Machine for investigations

Homestars

Below is another limitation of the Internet Archive: search capability is restricted.  If you try searching on the archived website, you’ll be directed to the results on the live website instead.  That is because Internet Archive cannot possibly archive all possible search results you can enter.

homestars search archive

Craigslist

The Internet Archive has some limited visibility into old Craigslist ads as shown in the screenshot below.  It only shows a listing of ads rather than the ads themselves

craigslist new york 2012-01-25

As you can see below, when you click on an individual ad then the error message is displayed.

craigslist new york individual ad

So if you were looking for archived Craigslist ads, and you are working for law enforcement, SIU, fraud detection, or private investigators, you can use Harmari Search for Craigslist to access expired, deleted, flagged or archived ads.

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