Internet Archive forced to remove 500,000 books after publishers’ court win (arstechnica.com)
from schizoidman@lemmy.ml to technology@lemmy.ml on 21 Jun 23:12
https://lemmy.ml/post/17150851

#technology

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autotldr@lemmings.world on 21 Jun 23:15 next collapse

This is the best summary I could come up with:


To restore access, IA is now appealing, hoping to reverse the prior court’s decision by convincing the US Court of Appeals in the Second Circuit that IA’s controlled digital lending of its physical books should be considered fair use under copyright law.

An April court filing shows that IA intends to argue that the publishers have no evidence that the e-book market has been harmed by the open library’s lending, and copyright law is better served by allowing IA’s lending than by preventing it.

“This is a fight for the preservation of all libraries and the fundamental right to access information, a cornerstone of any democratic society,” Freeland wrote.

"We believe in the right of authors to benefit from their work; and we believe that libraries must be permitted to fulfill their mission of providing access to knowledge, regardless of whether it takes physical or digital form.

Among the “far-reaching implications” of the takedowns, IA fans counted the negative educational impact of academics, students, and educators—"particularly in underserved communities where access is limited—who were suddenly cut off from “research materials and literature that support their learning and academic growth.”

“Your removal of these books impedes academic progress and innovation, as well as imperiling the preservation of our cultural and historical knowledge,” the letter said.


The original article contains 637 words, the summary contains 214 words. Saved 66%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!

Boozilla@lemmy.world on 21 Jun 23:26 next collapse

Is there a Pirate Bay for books?

vintageballs@feddit.de on 21 Jun 23:32 next collapse

Anna’s archive

Boozilla@lemmy.world on 22 Jun 00:18 next collapse

TY!

[deleted] on 22 Jun 00:55 collapse

.

FaceDeer@fedia.io on 22 Jun 00:31 collapse

Also Library Genesis.

dvdnet62@feddit.nl on 22 Jun 01:46 collapse
muhyb@programming.dev on 21 Jun 23:44 next collapse

If they can get away with this instead of total closure, I see this as a save. A weighty one.

FaceDeer@fedia.io on 22 Jun 00:30 collapse

The IA is appealing the decision so they're not out of the woods just yet.

waspentalive@lemmy.one on 21 Jun 23:49 next collapse

Do not forget the library of Alexandria.

anachronist@midwest.social on 22 Jun 00:42 next collapse

This is depressing as hell and a statement about the time we live in and the corporate overlords who control our lives.

Jimmy McGee made a great video about it last year:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJoGm8c523M

wizardbeard@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 22 Jun 01:08 collapse

… not really though.

The one big law about lending out digital copies of books you own is that you only lend out as many as you physically own. They uncapped that restriction, openly, and they admitted to it.

This is an incredibly open and shut case.

It’s stupid as hell, and that law needs to die, but there was no corporations doing people dirty here. This could have ended so, so much worse for IA.

anachronist@midwest.social on 22 Jun 01:18 collapse

The one big law about lending out digital copies of books you own is that you only lend out as many as you physically own.

That is not what the lawsuit is about, and that was not what the plaintiffs or the judge argued. Their argument is that if you can not take a physical copy and digitize it.

If you want a digital copy to lend, you must beg the publisher to allow you to have a digital copy to lend and you must accept their terms. If they don’t want to provide you with a digital lending option as a library, then you can not lend it. If they want to make you use their DRM software you must use it even if it spies on your patrons and charges you per-lending fees, or even “expires” the book after so many loans, or “blacks out” or “embargoes” lending of titles you are supposed to have in your catalog (these are all features of publisher-backed digital lending schemes).

unrushed233@lemmings.world on 22 Jun 13:53 collapse

Sign the petition! Not sure if it is going to make any difference, but it just takes a couple of minutes. change.org/…/let-readers-read-an-open-letter-to-t…