I download some websites for backup, in case the live version and Wayback Machine versions get lost. These websites are stored in my private files. In case you have concerns about me backing up your website, let me know, and I'll delete it from my files.
Is it ok to download other people's websites without their explicit permission? I think the answer isn't obvious, and I'd be interested in reader feedback. It's common for people to incidentally download various content, such as PDF files, from other people's websites for storage. Internet Archive's Wayback Machine establishes the norm that website owners need to explicitly opt out of having their websites backed up. And whereas Wayback Machine content is publicly accessible, my copies of the files will be kept private (unless and until they're needed, at which point I would ask the website owner if the contents could be restored). The fact that I'm doing these backups isn't widely known, so maybe the "opt out" possibility is much less genuine in the case of my backups than for Wayback Machine, but for the same reason, it's much less likely that the bad guys would try to get old copies of websites from me than from Wayback Machine. Finally, I think there's positive social value in ensuring that websites with important content don't disappear, which is why I currently err on the side of doing these backups.
Following are the domains for which I have at least one copy of at least a partial website download:
abolitionist.com TODO: add other sites