Key facts
- Nine PBS is suing Iron Mountain Data Centers to access 50TB of archival data.
- The data is stored at an Iron Mountain facility in Denver, used by defunct cloud provider Open Source Storage (OSS).
- The archives include coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic, historical events, and over 11,000 files.
- A judge ordered Iron Mountain to hand over physical devices containing the data.
- Nine PBS must find a third party to retrieve the data within 30 days.
A PBS affiliate, Nine PBS, has filed a lawsuit against Iron Mountain Data Centers in an effort to regain access to approximately 50 terabytes of crucial archival data. The data, which includes historical records and significant local coverage dating back up to 70 years, was stored at an Iron Mountain facility in Denver through a defunct cloud storage provider, Open Source Storage (OSS).
Nine PBS lost access to its data when its contract with OSS expired in March, and the company subsequently ceased operations and became unresponsive. The lawsuit claims that most of the data is unique and irreplaceable. A judge has since issued an order preventing Iron Mountain from deleting or modifying the data and has mandated that the company hand over the physical devices containing the archives.
However, Nine PBS faces the challenge of retrieving the data within 30 days, with the assistance of a third party, potentially a former OSS employee, without compromising data belonging to other OSS clients. Iron Mountain maintains that it has acted responsibly and transparently, stating that it does not have direct access to the data stored on client hardware and only provides physical infrastructure services.
Nine PBS has secured a default judgment against OSS in a separate St. Louis court, which affirmed their right to possess the data. The station has communicated its willingness to cover any reasonable costs associated with accessing the archives.