I was researching copyrights for a book and stumbled across this article on the Tech Dirt website. I didn’t realize that there was a big lawsuit going on between a few big publishers and the Internet Archive. I mean, yes, I suspect there is always at least one (being sarcastic here) lawsuit going on over copyrights between publishers and someone somewhere.
Internet Archive Responds To Publishers Lawsuit: Libraries Lend Books, That’s What We Do
We’re a Freakin’ Library; We lend books, that’s what we do! https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20200730/23251945010/internet-archive-responds-to-publishers-lawsuit-libraries-lend-books-thats-what-we-do.shtml
This article is extremely interesting. Apparently, since we’re in the midst of a Covid pandemic and the libraries are closed, with books just sitting on shelves and no one being allowed to access them, the Internet Archive is using it’s Controlled Digital Lending (CDL) program and National Emergency Library (NEL) to allow people digital access to books.
FOR FREE! Eeek! The dirty bastards, how could they do such a thing? Allowing people to read for free? That’s absurd. Just totally bonkers!
Well, the publishers are pissed about it, of course. They want the Internet Archive to stop the program and to delete all the digital books that have been scanned in–a “digital book burning,” if you will. In most cases, the books have been scanned in to digitally preserve them. And yes, the books are there for people to have access to them. And, yes, for free!
No matter which side you’re on, the article is interesting if you are a book person. There are a lot of nuances to the whole thing, of course. I’ve just skimmed the article once and wanted to share. I’m going to dip back into it again . . .
Being a writer, you’d think I would be siding with the publishers, but on the whole I’m all about free access to reading. I’ve had a book pirated (which I’ll get into in another post), and have mixed feelings about it. But hey, if someone wants to read my books they are more than welcome. I’d probably be willing to give two books away for free (digital copies) for every one the person buys. I would only ask that they be kind enough to leave reviews.