PBS station fears losing 50TB of data after being ghosted by cloud storage provider
Nine PBS is suing Iron Mountain Data Centers to recover 50TB of archived media after their cloud storage provider, Open Source Storage, became unresponsive. A judge has ordered Iron Mountain to release the physical hardware to the station.
Why it matters
The case underscores the risks of data dependency on third-party cloud providers and the challenges of digital preservation for public institutions.
Storage ‘suit PBS station fears losing 50TB of data after being ghosted by cloud storage provider “We don’t have access to the data on the hardware/servers,” Iron Mountain told Ars.
138 ARLINGTON, VA - MARCH 31: A sign for the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is seen on its building headquarters on March 31, 2026 in Arlington, Virginia. Credit: Getty ARLINGTON, VA - MARCH 31: A sign for the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is seen on its building headquarters on March 31, 2026 in Arlington, Virginia. Credit: Getty Text settings Story text Size Small Standard Large Width * Standard Wide Links Standard Orange * Subscribers only Learn more Minimize to nav After its cloud storage provider went defunct, a PBS affiliate decided to sue a data center provider to regain access to 50TB of TV shows, videos, and other data dating back 70 years.
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