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Activists rally to save Internet Archive as lawsuit threatens site

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Re: Activists rally to save Internet Archive as lawsuit threatens site

#361
post #310
post #207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a good list, but OpenStreetMaps should really be added to it :)

I like OSM as much as anyone, but out of those four, it'd be fourth by a mile or two in terms of usefulness. The English Wikipedia (especially if including other Wikimedia projects) on its own would be practically enough to get humanity back to the current day if things were set back a few hundred years. The Internet Archive would be, too, and probably a bit further. OSM would just get you a slightly better map. That…

> That said, 'jacquesm's comment is beyond stupid, really.

Name calling is not constructive.

Re: Activists rally to save Internet Archive as lawsuit threatens site

#362

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes. All of the writing on my website is CC0 licensed (public domain). The robot I have been designing for the last 2.5 years is CC0 licensed. I design PCBs for fun and license them CC0. I have been licensing my youtube videos as CC0, and I just started a new youtube channel for my own CC0 licensed 4k videos of nature. Most of the content on my github is already licensed with some kind of permissive open license eith…

I can’t see this working on a large scale. With no IP rights then how can I protect my work? We could outlaw all businesses so nobody can take my work and turn a profit from it but then where’s the incentive to solve complex problems? If I have to give away my solution then there’s really no reason for me to try unless I’m being forced in some way. Why would a dr want to work on a solution for cancer instead of just…

Prusa 3D printers are open source. Their main product over the last several years has been the MK2 and MK3 line of printers. Millions of clones have been sold by well-equipped Chinese companies. The clones sell for 1/3 the price, but make some cost cutting measures to achieve low cost. The result is that there is plenty of room in the market for the first party company and the clones.

Your suggestion that we outlaw business is clearly meant to be inflammatory, but it's unnecessary. Businesses like Prusa seem to be just fine without using IP restrictions.

> Why would a dr want to work on a solution for cancer instead of just treating people if the value gain is the same?

I would put it to you that you've misunderstood why people do things that they do. I am making a 3D printable off road robot and associated computer vision stack completely open source because I want to. It feels good to make something I think others will benefit from. I am able to cover my material needs with part time work, and I put a huge amount of effort in to my computer vision research so I can help contribute to solving tough robotics problems. The endeavor has cost me thousands of dollars in supplies and truly hundreds of hours of my own time. But it's worth doing.

You mentioned a desire to "protect your work". Well your work is not under attack when someone observes what you've done and reproduces it. Your work is still there, it's fine. But to advocate for IP restrictions is to say that you think I should collaborate with you to stop anyone else from copying your work. And I think that's a bad idea. Closed source technology is a big unchanging black box that stops up the works. We can make the cost of living dramatically cheaper for all people on Earth, but not with thousands of little black boxes everywhere. Imagine a huge open source software project that relies on a bunch of closed source modules. Developing improvements would be a pain. Why should we tolerate the same for the very means of reproduction of our society?

Re: Activists rally to save Internet Archive as lawsuit threatens site

#363

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes. All of the writing on my website is CC0 licensed (public domain). The robot I have been designing for the last 2.5 years is CC0 licensed. I design PCBs for fun and license them CC0. I have been licensing my youtube videos as CC0, and I just started a new youtube channel for my own CC0 licensed 4k videos of nature. Most of the content on my github is already licensed with some kind of permissive open license eith…

Great people deserve great recognition. Thank you. May your works act as a seed to a tree whose shade you may one day enjoy.

Thanks! As long as the seeds grow, someone will enjoy the result. :)

Re: Activists rally to save Internet Archive as lawsuit threatens site

#364

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe someone can buy their assets when they go trough bankruptcy

The fear is that the "someone" will be the selfsame publisher companies.

Why would they want 30 years of archived websites?

Re: Activists rally to save Internet Archive as lawsuit threatens site

#365
post #346

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You may feel that the dismantling of copyright is an issue on par with civil rights. However, that sentiment is rare, and isn't supported by any plain reading of the constitution, unlike racial equality. IA's not going to be setting any precedents in the defense of the lawsuit. They are going to be handed a swift, expensive, and one-sided defeat.

The sentiment that blacks are equal was rare once too. I find your understanding of this rather contrived given that your constitution has nothing to do with me. Your ip laws on the other hand, well, they stretch far and wide around countries that would rather have nothing to do with you. I would prefer, if youre going to refute my claims, you at least acknowledge them. Like, the fact ip law had a net benefit to soci…

What you're talking about isn't the same as what I'm talking about. I'm dealing with the idea that there's a precedent setting end to IA's decision. There isn't. They don't have a snowball's chance in a supernova of winning this case. It's was just dumb.

Your concerns about the effect of America's IP laws is a totally different issue. Your government presumably either believes that IP law is a net benefit today, or else wants something else that america had enough to hold their nose and make a deal. There are some political steps you can take to try to reverse that scenario but I'm afraid IA's actions here have no bearing on that. They can't possibly help you at all.

As to the rest of what you said, does it have merit? I don't know. What I do know is that IA will be worse off after this lawsuit is done.

Re: Activists rally to save Internet Archive as lawsuit threatens site

#366

I'm surprised and disappointed that the IA ever thought this would go over well, though I do respect the reasons for which they took these actions. Circumstances around the COVID-19 lockdowns have been very unusual. If you consider the hundreds of millions (+?) of books in libraries around the world that were temporarily inaccessible to people, including children and students, I feel the IA's actions were somewhat ju…

I think there's another dimension to this though, which is that IA carries an enormous responsibility that is totally unrelated to this area of their operations but is now put into jeopardy because of it. That's the real moral issue here. They sacrificed bigger-picture priorities that will impact lots of people for years and years to come, for a short-term stunt that affected people for a couple months.

Re: Activists rally to save Internet Archive as lawsuit threatens site

#367
post #18

I've got a synology NAS with at least 10TB spare capacity I could donate... If only there were a way to use it, and thousands more, to back up important projects like this in a decentralized way.

I'd go out and buy a NAS and fill it up with backups from IA if it would help the collection survive. Point me at the project.

Re: Activists rally to save Internet Archive as lawsuit threatens site

#368

> Controlled digital lending is a legal framework, developed by copyright experts, where one reader at a time can read a digitized copy of a legally owned library book. And digital downloading is a communication framework, developed by technology experts, where an unlimited number of readers can read the same digital library book at the same time.

One of the benefits of the press was decreased price of a copy and increased availability of printed material. Look where it got us. Digital medium is no different from the press, but of course, papyrus industry is going to fight it, because profits are more important, always.

Re: Activists rally to save Internet Archive as lawsuit threatens site

#369

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Also, publishers should have anticipated this sort of thing and prepared bridges so they didn't have to go on the attack and waste 10 different types of capital. Publishers repeatedly asked the IA to stop obviously breaking the law before filing the lawsuit, and were ignored.

If that's all they did, it makes one wonder if the publishing corporate leadership teams understand how laws are made, or rewritten? They completely missed their interface with IA. IA now has a lot of social leverage thanks to these publishers being about as creative and flexible as a concrete patio.

Whereas the publishers now have legal leverage. And guess which one actually counts when it comes to getting sued.

Re: Activists rally to save Internet Archive as lawsuit threatens site

#370

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Publishers will also be able to trivially show that the Piracy subreddit found the DRM and geofiltering to be below industry standard and how there were literally thousands of posts there about people downloading books for permanent retention because they could.

If I lend you my book and you make a persistent copy, am I the copyright violator?

If you've been warned that what you're doing is enabling others to violate copyright and continue to do so, then in a lot of jurisdictions yes. Same reason torrent trackers keep getting closed down.
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