Internet Archive forced to remove 500,000 books after publishers’ court win
Internet Archive forced to remove 500,000 books after publishers’ court win
Internet Archive fans beg publishers to stop emptying the open library.
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I don't follow. The Internet Archive only allows 1 copy of each physical book to be loaned at a time. If someone has the book you want already, then you need to wait until their loan expires. It's not like shadow libraries that allow unrestricted DRM-free downloading.
And publishers' profits are rising and don't seem to be at all correlated to library access, so of course nobody is suggesting they should close.
What am I not understanding?
During the pandemic, Internet Archive very publicly announced they were relaxing their one physical copy per digitally loaned copy.
I think of they had maintained their 1:1 CDL method, the publishers would still be uncomfortable to be the one to sue first, especially since there was a decent argument and IA would have been pretty sympathetic.
Their pandemic policy was effectively not substantially different from a shadow library., and just set up a slam dunk case for the publishers.
Libraries are still a thing. You can still go there to borrow a book, read it, and return it, so that others can read it.
Public libraries are under assault from every direction.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/03/us/book-bans-librarians.html (apologies for nyt link)
https://www.vox.com/politics/2023/5/5/23711417/republicans-want-to-defund-public-libraries-book-bans
Pretty soon you either won't find the books, or even the libraries themselves. Piracy is the only way they are leaving to us.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/03/us/book-bans-librarians.html?unlocked_article_code=1.1k0.2DLu.z4XyKBb-92s6 Here's the gift link without the paywall. I got the sub for free because my university has one for students.