Yet again the Internet Archiving is suffering big this time, a coalition of major record labels filed a lawsuit against the Internet Archive demanding $700 million for the extensive catalog of 78 rpm records. 78s are sometimes more than a century old at this point and i bet a lot of them are out of copyright, but i suppose for the few that still are majors are hitting it big towards the IA

This lawsuit is pretty much another existential threat to the Internet Archive and everything it preserves, including the Wayback Machine, and we’re fucked if we ever lose access to the Wayback Machine.

the original article asked to sign a petition, but i think a more logical way to support is to donate them directly so that they have more money to better defend themselves in court in this and other cases they’ll undoubtedly face in the future

  • khorovodoved@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    5
    arrow-down
    68
    ·
    edit-2
    18 hours ago

    Can Internet Archive just stop copyright violations?

    Do not get me wrong, I am all for piracy, but usually pirate websites hide themself (like libgen, for example), so that no lawsuit possesses a threat to the resource itself or resource owners.

    IA, on the other hand, are pretentious pirates. They either believe that they are untouchable or just do not care in general. And when it causes expected result once again, they start running around asking for help and telling how dangerous it is for their entire work.

    • Fonzie!@ttrpg.network
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      19
      ·
      11 hours ago

      The vast majority of these rpm records are not copyrighted. The same happened before when they were losing lawsuits over the books they archive, the vast majority of them weren’t copyrighted and almost none of them were published by the sueing publishers.

      This isn’t about copyright as they would have you believe, this is about information being publicly accessible rather than controlled by corporations.

    • Prunebutt@slrpnk.net
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      66
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      18 hours ago

      IA, on the other hand, are pretentious pirates.

      Homie, the IA is an archive. Their first and foremost aim is to make culture and knowledge available to the masses. You should read the blog entry. It’s not like they’re distributing the latest Marvel slop.

      • khorovodoved@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        5
        arrow-down
        50
        ·
        edit-2
        17 hours ago

        The law is a law. Their aims do not override it. They are getting what any sane person would expect. Nothing prevented them from separating their legal and shady operations to separate entities. That, at least, would prevent compromising the whole operation. If someone puts his head in a lion mouth, it is still his fault, at least partially, that lion kills him.

        It’s not like they’re distributing the latest Marvel slop.

        I doubt this argument will hold in court.

        • Magnus@lemmy.ca
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          19
          ·
          12 hours ago

          The law is the law

          No offence but you are gonna get absolutely crushed by this world. I truly hope that you’re just trolling with all this rage bat.

          Godspeed dude.

        • Prunebutt@slrpnk.net
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          20
          ·
          14 hours ago

          It’s acting like a library. When the current laws and political systems would prevent libraries being invented now, it’s a sign that the laws are bullshit. Not that libraries are wrong.

          • khorovodoved@lemm.ee
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            1
            arrow-down
            12
            ·
            12 hours ago

            I agree that the laws are bad. However, they are still laws. Breaking them has consequences.

        • Aatube@kbin.melroy.org
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          16
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          16 hours ago

          You claimed it was piracy. Piracy is not when you go to a library and listen to something the label doesn’t sell anymore. Piracy is downloading the latest Imagine Dragons slop without paying.

          • khorovodoved@lemm.ee
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            3
            arrow-down
            26
            ·
            15 hours ago

            If the library does not have the license or a right, guaranteed by law, to do that, then it is piracy.

            • Unruffled [they/them]@lemmy.dbzer0.comM
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              22
              ·
              14 hours ago

              US copyright law has been co-opted by corporations for the exclusive profit of corporate copyright holders. Just because a law exists doesn’t mean it is just. Props to the IA for fighting the good fight.

              • khorovodoved@lemm.ee
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                2
                arrow-down
                7
                ·
                12 hours ago

                Agree, but breaking the law and putting your whole operation at risk is not a clever nor productive way to fight it.

            • Senal@programming.dev
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              14
              arrow-down
              1
              ·
              15 hours ago

              Which law? in which place? at what time ?

              Where it’s hosted? where it’s being accessed? the intermediate locations ?

              Which license, is the license enforceable in this context? who decides if it is? what if there are conflicting decisions from different applications of law, who arbitrates?

              Do you mean piracy in the maritime sense? or do you mean copyright infringement? perhaps trademark infringement? or intellectual property theft? based on which law in which geographic region ?

              This isn’t even hyperbole, the things you are talking about have nuance and context, pretending they don’t is a failure of imagination or intentional trolling.

            • Aatube@kbin.melroy.org
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              4
              arrow-down
              2
              ·
              15 hours ago

              It’s called property. You buy a book. You don’t get to copy it, but you get to show it to anyone you want.

              • Kommeavsted@lemmy.dbzer0.com
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                2
                arrow-down
                1
                ·
                6 hours ago

                The only books I’ve paid for are the ones where the author explicitly allows copy and free distribution.

                Well, those and the ones that get bundled with online access way back in uni.

                • Aatube@kbin.melroy.org
                  link
                  fedilink
                  arrow-up
                  1
                  ·
                  5 hours ago

                  That’s nice. But why? Do you not miss out on e.g. The Great Gatsby?

                  How many books have you paid for, and how many does a library have?

                  • Kommeavsted@lemmy.dbzer0.com
                    link
                    fedilink
                    English
                    arrow-up
                    2
                    ·
                    5 hours ago

                    Beyond missing the subtext…

                    I don’t actually read all that much. I’m excruciatingly slow and i don’t currently commute. Most of my reading was on public transit or camping. But the authors i like just happen to either be ok with sharing copies of their work or it’s available for free anyways. That said I’ve bought maybe twenty books in the last decade…

                    Textbooks from exploitative publishers especially i refuse to pay for. E.g. Wiley, pearson, McGraw-Hill, etc… As well technical publications and journals.

                    The great Gatsby was provided by school when i read it. All the books were in my k-12. Most the students couldn’t afford them.

        • MonkeyBrawler@lemm.ee
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          17
          ·
          16 hours ago

          The law can be wrong, and it would be cool if the hard work of others is maintained while that’s fixed.

          You’re still missing the point tho.

        • Senal@programming.dev
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          9
          ·
          16 hours ago

          The law is the law in the very specific contexts in which it applies and is heavily open to interpretation and bias, which is (in theory) why trials and lawsuits exist.

      • troed@fedia.io
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        7
        arrow-down
        27
        ·
        18 hours ago

        They lost that argument when they implemented the possibility to play games they host in the browser.

        I’m all for an archive. I’m not sure IA are doing this right.

        • Neko the gamer@sh.itjust.worksOP
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          34
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          17 hours ago

          but come on, it’s not like they’re modern videogames or something, they’re old stuff from the 80s and 90s that one would never be able to play without access to the original hardware, so even in that case it’s about preserving the media, not committing plain copyright infringement to the original game publisher or something

          • troed@fedia.io
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            2
            arrow-down
            17
            ·
            15 hours ago

            They can be archived without being playable - and many of them are definitely still sold today and playable through commercial emulation. Playing PSX (Playstation 1) games is part of Sony’s Playstation Premium subscription as an example - and Nintendo has the same.

            Completely unnecessary, and puts the actual archiving arguments at risk meaning we might see court action that makes it impossible for other “real” archives to exist.

            • datavoid@lemmy.ml
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              15
              ·
              edit-2
              13 hours ago

              Arguing that subscription services should be the only way to experience 30+ year old media that you may have already purchased is certainly one view… I don’t think you’ll find much support here, however

            • MalikMuaddibSoong@startrek.website
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              19
              arrow-down
              1
              ·
              14 hours ago

              They can be archived without being playable

              You mustn’t be afraid to dream a little bigger darling.

              Imagine an archive for unreadable books, unwatchable films, and unplayable games too!

              • troed@fedia.io
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                2
                arrow-down
                2
                ·
                10 hours ago

                I think you forgot commenting the part about your “never be able to” statement being a flat out lie.

        • Prunebutt@slrpnk.net
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          21
          ·
          17 hours ago

          They acted like a regplar library: only one person was able to play concurrently. If that’s not ok, then all libraries should get sued.