Category: IT|Jun 18, 2020 | Author: Admin

Goodbye, National ‘Emergency’ Library

Share on

Internet Archive on the verge of bankruptcy, suspends ‘National Emergency Library’ amid legal turmoil

The Internet Archive or Wayback Machine, a non-profit digital library, offers free public access to collections of digitized materials including e-books for years. However, the service is now fighting a battle to stay afloat amid legal setback from four book publishers over its ‘National Emergency Library’ program. While activists have already rallied and come to its rescue, the process to save the Internet Archive is full of legal hurdles and challenges.

To understand the seriousness of this entire episode and trace the origin of the controversy, first, we need to understand where, why, and how it all started in the first place. InMarch, the Internet Archive announced the ‘National Emergency Library’ initiative in March, in the wake of a pandemic. The program was aimed at helping students and the general public access digitized books.

However, National Emergency Library brought some major changes to the Internet Archive’s traditional controlled digital lending system. In ideal situations, the Internet Archive would impose lending restrictions on books to address piracy concerns among book publishers. But since we are far from ‘ideal situations’ these days, modern problems naturally warrant modern solutions.


Unfortunately, this didn’t go well with book publishers. As a result, four commercial publishers have responded by filing a lawsuit against the Internet Archive. Now, it could bankrupt the Internet Archive, further forcing a 24-year-old non-profit to shut operations.

To avoid legal complications, the Internet Archive has decided to pull the plug on its temporary National Emergency Library, which is now closing two weeks early — on June 16.

In its recent blog post, the Internet Archive wrote:

We moved up our schedule because, last Monday, four commercial publishers chose to sue Internet Archive during a global pandemic.

But sadly, the story doesn’t end there. The lawsuit also alleges copyright infringement, which could force the non-profit to pay $150,000 in damages.

From the Internet Archive’s detailed response, it’s pretty much clear that ‘angry’ publishers are not only after the temporary National Emergency Library but the non-profit as a whole.

However, this lawsuit is not just about the temporary National Emergency Library. The complaint attacks the concept of any library owning and lending digital books, challenging the very idea of what a library is in the digital world.

Hoping to find some middle ground, the Internet Archive, in a way, has appealed to publishers to “call off their costly assault.”

 
Meanwhile, it remains to be seen how the story unfolds.

Sponsored Ads:

Comments:


Locked out 8 million Telegram users, then this happened

Category: IT|Mar 28, 2024 | Author: Admin

Mac update fixes important bugs

Category: Apple|Mar 27, 2024 | Author: Admin

The Windows Format Dialog Remains Unchanged After 30 Years

Category: Microsoft|Mar 26, 2024 | Author: Admin

Google's new AI search results promotes sites pushing malware, scams

Category: Google|Mar 25, 2024 | Author: Admin

YouTube ordered not to talk about it

Category: IT|Mar 24, 2024 | Author: Admin

It became too difficult for Apple

Category: Apple|Mar 23, 2024 | Author: Admin

Windows 11 Notepad finally gets spellcheck and autocorrect

Category: Microsoft|Mar 22, 2024 | Author: Admin

This is how Android 15 gets better

Category: Google|Mar 21, 2024 | Author: Admin

Warns Apple

Category: Apple|Mar 20, 2024 | Author: Admin

Microsoft again bothers Chrome users with Bing popup ads in Windows

Category: Microsoft|Mar 19, 2024 | Author: Admin

Increased by 164 percent

Category: IT|Mar 18, 2024 | Author: Admin

Anthropic launches its fastest and cheapest AI model yet

Category: IT|Mar 17, 2024 | Author: Admin

What is Darwin AI and how could Apple use its new tech?

Category: Apple|Mar 16, 2024 | Author: Admin

DO NOT update Minecraft!

Category: IT|Mar 15, 2024 | Author: Admin

Did you experience the problem? Now it is fixed

Category: Microsoft|Mar 14, 2024 | Author: Admin
more