What is "memory hole"

n. 1 A figurative place to which lose or forget information is sent, usually deliberately; nowhere. 2 (label en computing) (l en A fragment of physical address space which does not map to main memory.) 3 (label en computing rare) (l en A memory leak.)

A memory hole is any mechanism for the alteration or disappearance of inconvenient or embarrassing documents, photographs, transcripts, or other records, such as from a website or other archive, particularly as part of an attempt to give the impression that something never happened. The concept was first popularized by George Orwell's dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, where the Party's Ministry of Truth systematically re-created all potential historical documents, in effect, re-writing all of history to match the often-changing state propaganda. These changes were complete.

Memory hole may refer to:

• The memory hole, a concept in George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four
• Memory Hole 1, a radio program

In computing, it may refer to:

• The Memory Hole (web site) founded in 2002
• In a computer a slab, a contiguous area of memory
  • An area of physical address space which does not map to main memory
    • The hole between 640KB and 1MB on old IBM PC compatibles handled by DOS memory management
    • The PCI hole in more modern computers