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Anna's Archive: An Update from the Team

annas-archive.org

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Re: Anna's Archive: An Update from the Team

#111

Post by Vektorceraptor »

SimianSci wrote: post #72
xtracto wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Kind of... the fact that they have the actual data behind a "soft" paywall (waiting times and terribly slow transfers otherwise) makes me a bit skeptic of their "goodwill".

No such thing as free when bandwidth costs money. Any service online that is handing out things for free without restriction is getting their return through scrupulus means and shouldnt be trusted. Anna's Archive straddles the line enough to allow people to download books for free but not at too great an expense to the volunteers who pay out of pocket to support the project.

So what about the authors and creators of the works? They did it for free?

Re: Anna's Archive: An Update from the Team

#112

Post by spaceport »

CamperBob2 wrote: post #24
burkaman wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They do: https://xcancel.com/vxunderground/status/1888019174133276846 , https://www.theverge.com/2023/7/9/23788741/sarah-silverman-o... The tweet only names Meta, but it would be very surprising if OpenAI didn't do the same thing.

Anyone who doesn't train on all material available, legal or otherwise, will be outcompeted by teams that do, including those based in countries that don't respect Western copyright law. It's that simple. Either this is practice is judged (or legislated) to be fair use, or copyright is done. It's also that simple.

Quality. The tranformable value in all data is not equal.

Re: Anna's Archive: An Update from the Team

#113

Post by badlibrarian »

cakealert wrote: post #99
teraflop wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your comment seems like a non sequitur to me. Whether something is a "non-profit" has nothing to do with whether it receives or spends money. (See, e.g. the American Red Cross's ~$4B/yr budget.) It's about what it does with the money it has. Obviously, since Anna's Archive is breaking the law, it can't conform itself to the normal legal/regulatory system that governs non-profit organizations. It can certainly still c…

The connotation of a non-profit is that it's being audited. It would be extremely silly to suggest otherwise.

Audits have nothing to do with it; all entities are subject to audit.

The primary difference between a non-profit and a for-profit is that a non-profit does not distribute profit to shareholders, including the founders.

Re: Anna's Archive: An Update from the Team

#115

Post by gowld »

teraflop wrote: post #96
cakealert wrote: post #88

Can Anna's Archive claim to be a non-profit when it's effectively an illegal enterprise with unknown controllers? They are even offering decent bounties: https://software.annas-archive.li/AnnaArchivist/annas-archiv... Whoever is running it must be doing really well for themselves laundering all that crypto. Also interestingly they don't offer a tor onion service, while the admin is most certainly technically competen…

Your comment seems like a non sequitur to me. Whether something is a "non-profit" has nothing to do with whether it receives or spends money. (See, e.g. the American Red Cross's ~$4B/yr budget.) It's about what it does with the money it has. Obviously, since Anna's Archive is breaking the law, it can't conform itself to the normal legal/regulatory system that governs non-profit organizations. It can certainly still c…

Is Cosa Nostra a non-profit? The question doesn't make sense. It's a category error.

A non-profit is a corporate legal structure. An unregistered organization could be a cabal, a gang, a syndicate, a fellowship, a religion, a movement, a private club, or something else.

Re: Anna's Archive: An Update from the Team

#116

Post by cakealert »

southernplaces7 wrote: post #102
cakealert wrote: post #88

Can Anna's Archive claim to be a non-profit when it's effectively an illegal enterprise with unknown controllers? They are even offering decent bounties: https://software.annas-archive.li/AnnaArchivist/annas-archiv... Whoever is running it must be doing really well for themselves laundering all that crypto. Also interestingly they don't offer a tor onion service, while the admin is most certainly technically competen…

illegal doesn't at all have to mean immoral or particularly wrong either. Laws are complex constructions, often created for decidedly hypocritical reasons of benefitting some at the expense of others. Thus, Who gives a shit if they're taking money from those who voluntarily subscribe. They still offer an absolutely incredible free service to who knows how many people who otherwise wouldn't be able to afford so much a…

> what shred of evidence do you have of anyone there laundering crypto, and how

The controller's freedom. If they didn't launder it they wouldn't be free.

> They still offer an absolutely incredible free service

Actually their free downloads aren't particularly good when compared to some of the other online services that 'leech' from them.

And their torrent strategy could be altruistic but it could also be self interested. By spreading storage costs around and attracting more contributions. And providing insurance to hardrive seizures.

What mainly interests me is how much money they are actually making, I suspect it's very profitable.

Re: Anna's Archive: An Update from the Team

#117

Post by qualeed »

borski wrote: post #90
telesilla wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Whenever I'm in the Netherlands I need to set my DNS to 1.1.1.1 or similar, lots of blocks.

Except that that’s CloudFlare, which is also blocking Anna’s Archive.

Luckily it isn't the only public DNS.

8.8.8.8, 9.9.9.9, and many others exist.

Re: Anna's Archive: An Update from the Team

#118

Post by cakealert »

badlibrarian wrote: post #113
cakealert wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The connotation of a non-profit is that it's being audited. It would be extremely silly to suggest otherwise.

Audits have nothing to do with it; all entities are subject to audit. The primary difference between a non-profit and a for-profit is that a non-profit does not distribute profit to shareholders, including the founders.

Audit or threat of audit is the mechanism of enforcement and that is all that ever matters.

Re: Anna's Archive: An Update from the Team

#119

Post by thaumasiotes »

tzs wrote: post #78
lysace wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

If #1 is a reference to a famous quote from Steward Brand, founder of the Whole Earth Catalog, it's only part of the quote. The rest is relevant: > On the one hand you have—the point you’re making Woz—is that information sort of wants to be expensive because it is so valuable—the right information in the right place just changes your life. On the other hand, information almost wants to be free because the costs of ge…

That's not a real tension. There is no case where the inherent value of some commodity keeps its price high despite easy availability. That's the point of the "diamonds in the desert" thought experiment.

Inherent value provides a ceiling on the price of whatever it is.

Availability also provides a ceiling on the price.

If I give you two theorems that say C < 300 and also C < 10, why would you describe those as being "in tension" with each other?

Re: Anna's Archive: An Update from the Team

#120

Post by iLoveOncall »

SimianSci wrote: post #100
cakealert wrote: post #88

Can Anna's Archive claim to be a non-profit when it's effectively an illegal enterprise with unknown controllers? They are even offering decent bounties: https://software.annas-archive.li/AnnaArchivist/annas-archiv... Whoever is running it must be doing really well for themselves laundering all that crypto. Also interestingly they don't offer a tor onion service, while the admin is most certainly technically competen…

Given the amount of hosting and storage needed to sustain this project. Nobody is getting rich off of donations. Not to mention the lifestyle tradeoffs that innevitably come with international fugitive status do not lend themselves to a very comfortable life. The usage of crypto is entirely one of necessity, as controling information and knowledge is something powerful people have clear stakes in. Many countries weil…

> Given the amount of hosting and storage needed to sustain this project. Nobody is getting rich off of donations.

They're getting donations as much as megaupload was getting donations for premium accounts...

People pay for higher bandwidth and no wait time, not to support the "cause". It's a farce to qualify this of donations.

And obviously people do get rich off of it, as you can see from the slew of file hosting services.

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