The Bedrock of Continuity
While copyright provides a temporary monopoly to creators, the Archive view prioritizes the Public Domain as the only guaranteed way to preserve a work's availability across centuries. Digital artifacts trapped in Orphan Work status—where the owner cannot be found but the work is still "protected"—represent a massive loss for digital heritage.
Field Notes
The "Black Hole": Current copyright laws often last 70+ years after a creator's death. This creates a century-long dark period where digital works cannot be legally archived, updated, or migrated to new formats by the public.
Proactive Release: Many digital sovereignists use the CC0 (Creative Commons Zero) license to bypass this wait, effectively "donating" their work to the Public Domain immediately.