MEActNOW

🤯👇🏼
In 2010, Aaron Swartz downloaded 70GBs of articles from JSTOR. He faced $1 million fine and 35 years in jail. He took his life in 2013.

Meta illegaly downloaded 80+ terabytes of books from LibGen, Anna's Archive, and Z-library to train their AI models without any punishment.

Mar 2 at 9:56pmSpoutible
Show threadvavadane3d ago

@MEActNOW

we needed people like him and now he's dead

Show threadit's B! Cavello 🐝3d ago
@MEActNOW @corbden But I think what they did to Aaron was wrong
Show threadMx. Luna Corbden2d ago
@b_cavello @MEActNOW Yes, it was.
Show threadsabik3d ago
@MEActNOW
Alt text: photo of Aaron Swartz
Show threadTyler K. Nothing3d ago
@MEActNOW @sterophonick #cacpitalism. End it before it ends us.
Show threadJan Ulrich Hasecke2d ago
@MEActNOW The difference? Capitalism.
Show threadJuan Per¢ent🍉🏞️🌊2d ago
@MEActNOW Not only has there been no punishment for Meta.
They are cheered on by investors and most of the press for doing an enclosure of the commons. They'll slap their IP all over the regurgitated results, charge for it.
Show threadErebus2d ago
@MEActNOW Law is not the same for everyone, and copyright is tailored to big corps. Defense of intelectual property was never the matter, just extracting the money from the working class to put it in the hands of the wealthy.
Show threadManic2d ago

81920GB minimum vs 70GB in comparison of the two cases.

70GB is almost an average size for a PC Game these days.

Show threadseppi_hofer2d ago
@MEActNOW
Show threadVGC.3692d ago

@MEActNOW The contrast is devastating tbh.

One brilliant mind tried to free knowledge — faced prison.
A trillion-dollar company scrapes entire libraries — no consequences.

It’s not just about data.
It’s about who’s allowed to break the rules — and who pays the price when they don’t.

Show threadJean-Baptiste Bourgoin2d ago

@MEActNOW

J'avais fais une petite intervention sur Swartz il y a quelques années de cela à la maison du libre de Brest en sa mémoire ( faudrait que je mette ça ailleurs que sur Soundcloud d'ailleurs ) :

https://soundcloud.com/jbbourgoin/lecture-daaron-swarz-a-la-maison-du-libre-de-brest-le-200118

Lecture d'Aaron Swarz à la Maison du Libre de Brest le 20/01/18

Compositeur amateur brestois.

SoundCloud
Show threadjohnrohde2d ago
@MEActNOW 35 years is just crazy, he'd gotten off cheaper with a nice little murder.
The legal system is FUBAR.
Show threadWeltzeitgeist2d ago
@MEActNOW Fuck capitalism and the legal system which protects property and the superrich, but it tortures everyone else with violence, if one doesn't obey to the rulers.
Show threadhanstux2d ago
@MEActNOW R.I.P. Aaron!
Rss is still my favorit internet protocol. A shame, what they did to him.
Show threadWestern Infidels2d ago
@MEActNOW The principle I couldn't stop noticing, once I had been introduced to it: The law serves the powerful, first and foremost.
Show threadSpark Purcell (they/them)2d ago
@MEActNOW don't confuse the issues. Shadow libraries are good for the commons, as all libraries are. The illegal part was training llms on it for profit. Aaron did nothing wrong. Meta did.
Show threadNamed Bird2d ago

@MEActNOW This can easily be rectified: Put whoever at Meta made the call to do this also in jail. They can share the sentence if it was a team decision. The fine is scaled with the file size difference and goes to the organization itself.

I think that's a very fair solution.

Show threadNoodlemaz2d ago
@MEActNOW alt text: picture of Aaron Swartz sitting in a high-ceiing room with tall, square windows, facing the camera side on. He's wearing a grey hoodie and jeans, with his hands loosely clasped and smiling
Show threadAnnika Backstrom2d ago
@MEActNOW this one breaks my heart https://mastodon.social/@veroandi/113373982209582187
Show threadAccount: Computers2d ago
@MEActNOW LOL.
Show threadMarsh Ray2d ago

@MEActNOW Don't forget all the other corporate mass-scale "scan all the books and copy them into our electronic retrieval system without a license" projects.

Of course the legal framework called "IP" has huge issues, but the systematic double standard being applied is a sad joke.

Show threadTimP2d ago
@MEActNOW GNU Aaron Swartz
Show threadAcademia1d ago
@MEActNOW
ÀLT : Aaron Swartz
Show threadAdam1d ago
@MEActNOW So sad and disgusting.
Show threadAndr3a28101d ago
@MEActNOW you will own nothing and you will be happy lol
Show threadReadme.txt1d ago
@MEActNOW
Meta is not a person. We totally must say: Mark Zuckerberg.
Show threadMax Power1d ago
@MEActNOW from what I’ve read, it looks like he was intentionally punished by US authorities for his activism
Show threadNico198X1d ago
@MEActNOW such a society is FUNDAMENTALLY BROKEN
Show threadLe Pertti1d ago
@MEActNOW If I ever get caught downloading something, I'll use "meta did it" as a defence!😅
Show threadAndrew1d ago
@MEActNOW be rich, don’t be poor. Simple choice right? /s
Show threadStefan1d ago
@MEActNOW
Aron Schwarz didn't had the money to defend himself by an army of lawyers but Meta does, that's the difference.
@oliver
Show threadDaniel Lakeland1d ago

@MEActNOW

This is why I think Copyright is fundamentally evil.

It isn't that Meta is doing something bad and getting away with it... it's that Aaron and Meta are both doing something totally fine, and Aaron is getting unjustly punished for it.

You can't really be in favor of copyright and also not in favor of jailing and fining Aaron. Fundamentally that's what Copyright is, it's the threat of jail and fines for doing what Aaron and Meta both did. Which wasn't anything wrong.

Show threadDaniel Lakeland1d ago

@MEActNOW

When people say they support copyright, usually what they mean is they support creators getting income from the act of creation. But copyright is NOT the only way to ensure that happens. In fact, copyright *doesn't* ensure that happens. Mostly copyright ensures large copyright holders get rent for merely owning what others created. It also helps large corporations avoid having their current stuff competed with by old stuff from years ago. Keeping that old stuff off the market.

Show threadOrion77176 ✅ ⏚ ᓚᘏᗢ ☢️  21h ago

@MEActNOW we must leave all #GAFAM ...
I have always made that in my case, all my services are self hosting, never i will return back.

#GAFAM #selfHosting

Show threadHuntn0012h ago
@MEActNOW Thank you for this fascinating example of how fickle and tragically inconsistent the law can be as administered by Humans, especially Capitalists. 😳