Internet Archive hosted a press conference before oral argument in Hachette v. Internet Archive, the lawsuit against our library.
Speakers:
Link to statement & transcript.
- Brewster Kahle, the founder & digital librarian of the Internet Archive;
- Lila Bailey, senior policy counsel at the Internet Archive;
- Lawrence Lessig, Harvard Law
- Heather Joseph, executive director of SPARC
- Catherine Stihler, chief executive officer, Creative Commons
- John Chraskta, executive director of EveryLibrary
- Author Ashton Applewhite
- And author and educator Laura Gibbs.
I’ve bought several books that I originally found on the archive. Without it, I never would have heard of them, much less purchased them. So, at least in my case, the archive has contributed to the publisher’s bottom line. I’m guessing I’m not the only one.
You’re definitely not the only one. I recently bought a book (used, because it was out of print) due to liking what I read due to borrowing it via Controlled Digital Lending in the Internet Archive.
This is also true in my case and also I have purchased books on my Kindle, based on what I have seen on archive.org
There are so many rare out of print books you can’t find anywhere else but IA. Why should those be gotten rid of too? What will become of the Wayback Machine? Will that disappear as well?
Criminalising a library is madness and I support you in this fight.
When the Library of Alexandria burned in 48 BC, 700,000 books were lost. Now these 4 publishers are trying to wipe out the millions of digitized books here at the Open Library. Between the Republicans banning books and the publishers and politicians wiping out entire libraries it seems like we are headed for a new dark age of censorship and ignorance. Keep up the fight; The Open Library is too vital to lose! …And lets boycott those publishers; giving money to Hachette, HarperCollins, Random House, and Wiley is buying matches for bookburners.
I too have done the same. In fact I’ve bought several books I’ve come across on internet archive. All second hand from sites dealing in such. I’ve also bought a couple of new ones related to my research as well. Wouldn’t have known about them without the archives.
In fact my research would be severely hampered with out this most valuable resource.
A Democracy is in serious decline when it privatizes knowledge and controls access.
Publishers continue to make profits selling print copies of public domain books; so the argument that modernizing access to knowledge, information, and speech is depriving publishers legitimate income is a hard sell. Melville, Plato, Shakespeare, Twain, Nabokov, Dostoevsky, among thousands others are continue in print to be sold for profits, there is always a market for great books.
The real discussion is the mediocre and middling books, the books of the moment, that likely won’t ever have a second, or third printing because they are so costly and beyond popular interest.
The publishing industry is tilting at windmills, digital rights and communications, and, access to knowledge are public and individually rights and national interests in a functional Democracy.
The change in American Democracy requires a change in our delivery of information. Carnegie built libraries to create access to knowledge and education by removing barriers.
The Federal Courts must recognize that encumbering digital lending is a barrier to the education and knowledge of the American electorate,. It is a barrier to a protected American right, it is an encumbrance to a functional Democracy to deny speech, communication, the delivery of information, and these interests are of far greater and enduring value to a functioning Democracy than the unsubstantiated and illusory promise of additional quarterly profits in the publishing industry.
Just the delivery resources, the internet library as a research tool, and, the instant access to browse, and the ability of the resource to read the book aloud. The value of this resource is unequivocally necessary to establish an educated and informed electorate.
I’ve also bought several books I came across on internet archive from second-hand book shops.
I think Internet Archive and Wayback Machine do a fantastic job and tbat criminalising a library such as this one is indeed madness.
I’m a huge fan of IA because I love books. Books are there to be enjoyed. The books I borrow on here aren’t ones I’d see in a shop like Waterstones. They’re old, rare and not first hand. I read them, normally run out of time to finish them, and appreciate I had the chance to read them.
Book buying and reading is changing. If publishers don’t keep up, they’ll end up like the music and movie industry.
This month I bought a book on Amazon for £28 that I saw in a shop for £40. I feel bad about that but it was a heavy book and I wanted it to my door, not carry it around all day. I feel bad I didn’t put the money in the hands of the shop who introduced the book to me. Should different prices be illegal?
I’ve also bought 3 books first hand in Waterstones. I hope money went to the author’s, publisher’s, shop and taxes.
I’ve borrowed 10 books from my local library in the UK. These are in print, new books and I probably won’t buy them now I’ve read them. Should that be illegal? Hardly. Fair use. And books I will tell people about, encouraging them to buy, but not ones id use myself.
I have a physical copy of a book, Quant by Mary Quant, that I now want to buy as an ebook because I want a digital copy for travelling with. So this time having a clunky physical copy already is now encouraging me to buy a light digital copy.
In this day of AI it is so easy for me to re write an entire book already in minutes or create a new book, let’s say a new James Bond novel, with just a few suggestions.
For publishers to go after this wonderful free archive is really backwards looking. It encourages book reading and book buying on a fair use lending policy.
Keep up the fight!
I can tell you that the Internet Archive is a non-profit digital library that archives digital content, including websites, books, music, and videos. Its mission is to provide universal access to all knowledge, and it has been collecting digital content since 1996. Is there anything specific you would like to know about the Internet Archive?