themachinestops@lemmy.dbzer0.com to Technology@lemmy.zipEnglish · 2 个月前

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

www.tomshardware.com

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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

www.tomshardware.com

themachinestops@lemmy.dbzer0.com to Technology@lemmy.zipEnglish · 2 个月前
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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 permanently monopolized on private servers’
www.tomshardware.com
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.
      • artyom@piefed.socialEnglish
        27·
        2 个月前

        …why not?

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

        • Havatra@lemmy.zipEnglish
          12·
          2 个月前

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          A very recent example is the VHS tapes that contained unseen and unpublished footage of Tiananmen Square.

    • mindbleach@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      32·
      2 个月前

      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.

        • mindbleach@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
          12·
          2 个月前

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

          • artyom@piefed.socialEnglish
            3·
            2 个月前

            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.

            • mindbleach@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
              11·
              2 个月前

              Are you confused by the concept of a used book store?

              They’re buying old books. Books that are no longer in print. These specific copies were produced legitimately, by the rightsholders, but new copies are no longer being made. Whether the publisher could reprint them might be legally or logistically complicated. More often, nobody cares.