cross-posted from: https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/74448280

cross-posted from: https://kbin.earth/m/piracy@lemmy.dbzer0.com/t/3120649

As AI tech companies increasingly buy and destroy books to feed to their AI models, Anna's Archive is calling for volunteers to help preserve them for the public record.

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[–] -4 points 1 day ago (2 children)

I don't get it. Can't they just...print more books?

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  • [–] 1 point 9 hours ago* (1 child)

    That should be the answer, but thanks to Disney extending copyright to basically a century, the answer is no.

    You would think everyone clutching pearls about "rare books" would be on-board to relax that nonsense, so a corporation scanning every book could just post their scan. You would really think.

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  • [–] 2 points 8 hours ago (1 child)

    So the copyright doesn't extend to sales?

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  • [–] 9 points 1 day ago (1 child)

    A book from 1920 will probably not get printed again

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  • [–] -5 points 23 hours ago (1 child)

    ...why not?

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

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  • [–] 11 points 23 hours ago* (last edited 20 hours 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    A very recent example is the VHS tapes that contained unseen and unpublished footage of Tiananmen Square.

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