If we lose the Internet Archive, we’re screwed

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[–]package 3 insightful - 2 fun3 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 2 fun -  (3 children)

I'm all for preserving history and access to information, but this particular case was pretty blatantly indefensible legally. They were providing free, unrestricted access to books that, unlike their catalogue of films and other media, were currently being sold and not in the public domain or permissively licensed. The "library" analogy didn't work because there is no physical media changing hands and limiting who had access to the book at any particular time. There was no difference between what they were doing and what pirate sites do.

[–]JewsAreOfColor 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Good. Oligarchs do not deserve to profit off the labor of others.

[–]jamesK_3rd 3 insightful - 2 fun3 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 2 fun -  (1 child)

Physical media "changing hands" is some garbage idea some lawyer came up with. Many libraries have multiple copies of an item

Copyright law, like almost everything else is so corrupt and bureaucratic now, greed and payouts.

[–]package 2 insightful - 2 fun2 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

... multiple copies are still a limit on the total number of people that can use the book at one time and ensure that the publisher has been paid for each copy in existence. Surely you see the difference between that and unlimited free copies? Imagine if when someone bought a car they could just snap their fingers and summon an identical one for free for anyone who asked.