Charlie StrossMar 21, 2025
Pretty much EVERY book I've ever published got stolen by Meta and is listed in this database. That's over 30 books, a 25 year career output. (Need to find a UK class action lawsuit to join, or a US one that's open to non-US residents whose work was published in the USA).
https://retro.pizza/@digitalraven/114199906574357235
Everyday Cyborg (@[email protected])

Seven of the #RPG books I worked on were pirated by #Meta to train their #AI #Bullshit Regardless as to my feelings on copyright, the IP owner did not consent to their inclusion in the dataset. Meta's use is fundamentally immoral to the point that my own works will have an exclusion to their existing permissive licences to say "Fuck you and your idiot autocorrect" See if they've pirated your work here: https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2025/03/search-libgen-data-set/682094/

retro.pizza
Show threadtruhMar 21, 2025
@cstross Please don't campaign to destroy public access digital archives. LibGen isn't created by Meta.
Show threadCharlie StrossMar 21, 2025
@truh Oh, fuck the Internet Archive too: those guys pirated works that were readily available in ebook stores during lockdown. Inexcusable and deliberate lawbreaking.
Show threadErica "digifox" KovacMar 21, 2025
Even if you think their lending model during COVID was unreasonable, IA doesn't deserve to be bankrupted for that.
Show threadCharlie StrossMar 21, 2025
@digifox.binaryden.net No, but they definitely deserve to be smacked over the nose with a rolled-up newspaper and forced to comply with the law—and to make reasonable reparations for the COVID-period abuses.
Show threadErica "digifox" KovacMar 21, 2025
Okay, but that's not what's happening. The current judgement against them will bankrupt them and we'll all be worse off for it.
Show threadCharlie StrossMar 21, 2025
@digifox.binaryden.net They invited the current judgement by being reckless idiots wrt. the existing law, and inviting a lawsuit rather than settling out of court.
Show threadJürgen Hubert

@cstross @digifox.binaryden.net

Yeah, I really don't get their strategy.

Maybe they should have split "protecting cultural heritage works in the public domain" from "disrupting(*) the book publishing industry".

I've come to the conclusion that we need to have a lot more redundancy in our digital archives of public domain works.

(*) I.e. blatantly violating copyright.

Mar 21, 2025 at 11:47amWeb