In an open letter to publishers, more than 30,000 readers, researchers, and authors begged for access to the books to be restored in the open library, claiming the takedowns dealt “a serious blow to lower-income families, people with disabilities, rural communities, and LGBTQ+ people, among many others,” who may not have access to a local library or feel “safe accessing the information they need in public.”
During a press briefing following arguments in court Friday, IA founder Brewster Kahle said that “those voices weren’t being heard.” Judges appeared primarily focused on understanding how IA’s digital lending potentially hurts publishers’ profits in the ebook licensing market, rather than on how publishers’ costly ebook licensing potentially harms readers.
With governance across the US destroying libraries left and right, what IA is doing is basically a necessary future.
The IA needs to lay low a bit before we loose them. There’s plenty of stuff out there they can archive that we need that won’t piss off copyright.
We need an ipfs or torrent library that’s out of easy reach of the courts.
It really doesn’t seem to be the political climate to do something good for the people right now, at least in the US. I feel dirty even typing the last part. It’s so sad.
You’re right, better to pick some battles and live another day to do something good.