Indubitably Odin: “Censored articles from around the world find refuge in this massive Minecraft map. Reporters Without Borders is an international non-profit and non-governmental organization with the stated aim of safeguarding the right to freedom of information. In order to expand upon this goal, the organization has turned to an unlikely source: the video game… Continue Reading
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Category Archives: Copyright
Border Researchers Now Can Use 65+ Open-licensed Images of Surveillance Tech
EFF – “From Camera Towers to Spy Blimps, Border Researchers Now Can Use 65+ Open-licensed Images of Surveillance Tech from EFF – The U.S.-Mexico border is one of the most politicized technological spaces in the country, with leaders in both political parties supporting massive spending on border security and the so-called “Virtual Wall.” Yet we… Continue Reading
Feds arrest Russians accused of running the largest pirated e-book library
Ars Technica: “Last month, the alleged masterminds behind Z-Library—an e-book pirate site that claims to be “the world’s largest library”—were arrested. According to a press release yesterday from the US Department of Justice, Russian nationals Anton Napolsky and Valeriia Ermakova have been charged with “criminal copyright infringement, wire fraud and money laundering for operating Z-Library.”… Continue Reading
Z-Library eBook site domains seized by U.S. Dept of Justice
Bleeping Computer: “Internet domains for the popular Z-Library online eBook repository were seized early morning [November 4, 2022] by the U.S. Department of Justice, preventing easy access to the service. Z-Library is ranked in the top 10k most visited websites on the Internet, offering over 11 million books and 84 million articles for free via… Continue Reading
Texas Universities Reach Historic Deal with Elsevier
(November 30, 2022) “Texas Library Coalition for United Action (TLCUA) is pleased to announce that it has concluded negotiations with Elsevier, and all TLCUA members have signed or are finalizing new agreements for subscription journal access. In 2019, 44 public and private university campuses across Texas joined together to form TLCUA to think creatively about… Continue Reading
Rights holders got Google to remove 6 billion links from Search over 10 years
Ars Technica: “Over the past decade, Google has consistently documented its efforts to remove links from its search results to content that the tech giant considers pirated, and recently, the total number of Google takedowns since its reporting began has shot past 6 billion. It’s a milestone that Torrent Freak suggested shows that, “[w]hile copyright… Continue Reading
Access to Knowledge Coalition Website on Copyright Laws
“The A2K Coalition calls for a fair and balanced international copyright system that is underpinned by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights….This map shows the status of copyright exceptions for key activities related to education, research and cultural heritage…” “Access to knowledge is not enjoyed equally across the world. Crises, including the COVID-19 pandemic and… Continue Reading
Internet Archive Files Final Reply Brief in Lawsuit Defending Controlled Digital Lending
Internet Archive Blogs: “On Friday, October 7, the Internet Archive filed a reply brief against the four publishers that sued Internet Archive in June 2020: Hachette Book Group, HarperCollins Publishers, John Wiley & Sons, and Penguin Random House. This is the final brief in support of our motion for summary judgment (our previous motions can… Continue Reading
The ever-expanding job of preserving the web’s backpages
FT.com [paywall]: The Internet Archive’s mission is to ‘provide universal access to all knowledge’. Within the partitions of a lovely former church in San Francisco’s Richmond district, racks of laptop servers hum and blink with exercise. They comprise the web. Well, a really great amount of it. The Internet Archive, a non-profit, has been gathering… Continue Reading
Lawsuit by a group of major book publishers threatens existence of Internet Archive
Via LLRX – Fenced-off culture, the privatized Internet, and why book publishers lean on a 30-year-old doctrine – The Internet Archive (IA) “is a non-profit digital library offering free universal access to books, movies & music, as well as 624 billion archived web pages.” The IA offers users unrestricted access to its expansive ecosystem of knowledge… Continue Reading
300+ authors pen open letter supporting libraries’ rights in the digital age
“Signed by a vast and diverse list of authors, the letter decries conduct from major publishers and trade associations, including their lawsuit against the Internet Archive, demanding that they cease efforts to undermine the essential contributions of libraries to an accessible and inclusive world of books. Over 300 authors including Neil Gaiman, Alok Menon, Naomi… Continue Reading
KnowYourCopyrights.org Helps Library Advocates Assert Rights in Digital Era
[August 24, 2022] “the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) launched KnowYourCopyrights.org, a revamped resource to support library leaders, practitioners, and advocates in proactively asserting library rights in the digital era. Libraries, as well as the research, teaching, and learning activities that they support, enjoy special rights in US law, starting with the constitutional purpose of… Continue Reading
