Comment on World's largest open library calls for volunteers to scan and preserve physical books as AI companies buy, scan, and destroy them — Anna's Archive says ‘time is running out’ as ‘knowledge is permanent

artyom@piefed.social ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

• SigHunter@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  A book from 1920 will probably not get printed again

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  • artyom@piefed.social ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    …why not?

    If it hasn’t been printed more than once in a literal century, is that really a loss?

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    • Havatra@lemmy.zip ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Potentially, yes. Sure, it could just be some smut novel, but it could also provide insight into a certain group or people’s perspective on societal/political events at the time, contributing to a better painted big picture on an event we thought we knew all there is to know about.

      A very recent example is the VHS tapes that contained unseen and unpublished footage of Tiannamen Square.

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• mindbleach@sh.itjust.works ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  That should be the answer, but thanks to Disney extending copyright to basically a century, they can’t.

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  • artyom@piefed.social ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    So the copyright doesn’t extend to sales?

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    • mindbleach@sh.itjust.works ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      … yes, the entire idea of copyright is that owning a copy is distinct from the right to sell more copies.

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      • artyom@piefed.social ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        Right, but we’re not talking about owning, we’re talking about selling. The AI companies are buying these books. Which means someone is selling them.

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