Another one is close to biting the dust. Sci-Hub is out, Z-Lib got ran off like a dog and now IA is going to remove a host of books because these publishers just can’t stop being money-hungry bastards.

This is why I support piracy. Knowledge should be free. To go after a nonprofit organization that just wants to make digital books and other formats accessible to everyone when majority of uploads can’t be downloaded only borrowed, is just so devious and greedy.

I’m so tired of it. Laws around copyright and intellectual property need to be reformed. I feel so helpless :c

Link to blog post:

https://blog.archive.org/2023/08/17/what-the-hachette-v-internet-archive-decision-means-for-our-library/

  • @[email protected]
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    10 months ago

    This is depressing as hell.

    Most people have no idea how much sci-hub has advanced medical and basic scientific discovery.

    We need things like the archive more than ever now too as the the disease of thinking truth is a maleable substrate continues to spread.

  • @[email protected]
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    2610 months ago

    Anna’s archive acts as a drop in replacement for libgen and z-library, also doesn’t cost anything

  • @[email protected]
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    2510 months ago

    I can’t believe these are the times we live in. The services of the Internet Archive are invaluable for scholars and students alike. No library can afford all the printed books/journals or licenses needed for an adequate approach to most topics. And to be honest, shadow libraries are also much needed when publishers lock away vital knowledge (which was often gained through support from public grants).

    This seems just another example of how capitalism will bring about the downfall of our civilization as it hinders the progress of science.

    • @[email protected]OP
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      1110 months ago

      Sci-Hub stopped adding new articles since its court case and Z-Lib had most of its domains seized by the US. I didn’t say they were dead, but tried to convey that they were attacked and forced to either cease their operations or shrink significantly.

      • @[email protected]
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        1110 months ago

        Right but zlib is full strength at this point, and libgen remained unaffected. Annas archive gives an extensive coverage of it all.

    • @[email protected]
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      1610 months ago

      That only helps for shadow libraries whose operators are unknown. The Internet Archive, on the other hand, is a registered non-profit organisation, so how would they be able to hide themselves?

        • @[email protected]
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          310 months ago

          It’s not so simple, unfortunately. The sheer amount of data they have - 212 PB as of December 2021 - makes it practically impossible for most people to mirror. Unless they physically hand over all 745 server nodes to another operator, there’s no way of someone

          There are some solutions to this - for example Archive-Team has proposed a method of mirroring the Internet Archive using distributed clients, although this method currently only has a fraction of the total dataset. Still, at this point in time, there’s no real solution to resharing IA’s data in the event they go under

      • Bobby Turkalino
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        010 months ago

        how would they be able to hide themselves?

        It’s literally in the name for a .onion website: hidden service

        Tor hides the identity of servers just as much as it does for client users. So as long as the IA hosts in a country where publishers don’t have jurisdiction, I believe they’ll be fine

    • @[email protected]OP
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      510 months ago

      Lmao I’m so sorry! I realised afterwards what was happening, but have no idea how to fix it since I’m still fairly new to Lemmy. I hope it didn’t inconvenience you too much!

  • @[email protected]
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    610 months ago

    And it was IA’s increased activity during the pandemic that spurred the current trouble. Brewster Kahle is a saint.

    • @[email protected]OP
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      10 months ago

      That’s what I read as well. You would think they would’ve gotten some leeway since it was done during an event comparable to war and they were following the footsteps of other digital libraries. They had a pretty stellar reputation and system in place for nearly a decade already, so I can only assume that they were simply waiting for an opportunity to target them.