Simon WillisonFeb 5

The CIA just stopped publishing their World Factbook and took every page, including the archived copies of previous versions!

This sucks. It was public domain, so I recovered the 2020 edition (the last one published as a zip file) and shared it to GitHub https://simonwillison.net/2026/Feb/5/the-world-factbook/

Spotlighting The World Factbook as We Bid a Fond Farewell

Somewhat devastating news today from CIA: One of CIA’s oldest and most recognizable intelligence publications, The World Factbook, has sunset. There's not even a hint as to why they decided …

Simon Willison’s Weblog
Show threadKanaMaunaFeb 5

@simon

Something in there was inconvenient.

Show threadDaniel Pache⚓
@simon @KanaMauna don't be ridiculous. There's no particular reason other than: the orange menace doesn't like the word "fact".
Feb 5 at 7:20amWeb
Show threadKanaMaunaFeb 5

@deep470 @simon

Probably was easier to just shelf the project than try to figure out what was offending the god emperor this week.

Show threadPieter Kuiper 🌍🇳🇱Feb 5

@deep470

Or he hates the word "world".

Or the word "book".
@simon @KanaMauna