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Why is printer ink so expensive?

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Digital Rights Bytes – “Few liquids are more precious than printer ink, but that’s not because ink is expensive to make. How can HP— and its handful of competitors in the highly concentrated printer market—get away with charging these kinds of markups? Simple: It’s a combination of monopoly power, wacky laws, and consumer-hostile tech…

So why do printer companies charge so much for ink? Because they can. Because they have merged with or bought most of their competitors. Because they have weaponized laws to make it illegal for you to modify your printer, or for rivals to make ink cartridges that work with it. Because they can send updates to your printer whenever they want, not just to add features or protect your security, but to steal functionality from you…”

Z-Library Helps Students to Overcome Academic Poverty, Study Finds

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Torrent Freak: “Z-Library is one of the largest shadow libraries on the Internet, hosting millions of books and academic articles that can be downloaded for free. The site defied all odds over the past two years. It continued to operate despite a full-fledged criminal prosecution by the United States, which resulted in the arrest of… Continue Reading

The Global Surveillance Free-for-All in Mobile Ad Data

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Krebs on Security: “…Delaware-based Atlas Data Privacy Corp. helps its users remove their personal information from the clutches of consumer data brokers, and from people-search services online. Backed by millions of dollars in litigation financing, Atlas so far this year has sued 151 consumer data brokers on behalf of a class that includes more than… Continue Reading

The Internet Archive Loses Its Appeal of a Major Copyright Case

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Wired unpaywalled: “The Internet Archive has lost a major legal battle [The case is Hachette Book Group Inc. v. Internet Archive, 2d Cir., No. 23-1260, 9/4/24.]—in a decision that could have a significant impact on the future of internet history. Today, the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled against the long-running digital… Continue Reading

Wiley set to earn $44m from AI rights deals, ‘no opt-out’ for authors

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The Bookseller: “Academic publisher Wiley has revealed it is set to make $44 million (£33 million) from Artificial Intelligence (AI) partnerships that it is not giving authors the opportunity to opt-out from.  The US publisher is the latest to capitalise on deals to give tech firms access to its authors’ content to train their Large… Continue Reading

EU Proposal for an ePrivacy Regulation

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“The European Commission’s proposal for a Regulation on ePrivacy aims at reinforcing trust and security in the digital world. Why a reform of ePrivacy legislation? European legislation needs to keep up with the fast pace at which IT-based services are developing and evolving. The Commission has started a major modernisation process of the data protection… Continue Reading

Survey of Americans’ Online Security Top Concerns & Problematic Habits

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US News – Data Privacy Paradox: “Americans are increasingly aware of the dangers lurking online and worry about the risks of data breaches, cyber attacks, ransomware, and more. The fears are well-founded. Already in the first months of 2024, a rash of data breaches has exposed potentially sensitive information of millions of people. One report… Continue Reading

NO FAKES – A Dream for Lawyers, a Nightmare for Everyone Else

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EFF: “Performers and ordinary humans are increasingly concerned that they may be replaced or defamed by AI-generated imitations. We’re seeing a host of bills designed to address that concern – but every one just generates new problems. Case in point: the NO FAKES Act. We flagged numerous flaws in a “discussion draft” back in April,… Continue Reading

Google’s AI Search Gives Sites Dire Choice: Share Data or Die

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Bloomberg [unpaywalled] – Publishers say blocking the company’s AI bot could also prevent their sites from showing up in search. Google now displays convenient artificial intelligence-based answers at the top of its search pages — meaning users may never click through to the websites whose data is being used to power those results. But many… Continue Reading

Groundbreaking Agreement Provides Libraries with Permanent Ownership Rights Over Tens of Thousands of Digital Titles

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Digital Public Library of America and Independent Publishers Group have partnered to rewrite the future of providing ebooks to benefit libraries, authors and readers alike. Chicago, August 13, 2024 – The Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) and Independent Publishers Group (IPG) have announced a groundbreaking agreement that will transform how American libraries provide access… Continue Reading

An open copyright casebook, featuring AI, Warhol and more

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Pluralistic: “Few debates invite more uninformed commentary than “IP” – a loosely defined grab bag that regulates an ever-expaning sphere of our daily activities, despite the fact that almost no one, including senior executives in the entertainment industry, understands how it works. Take reading a book. If the book arrives between two covers in the… Continue Reading

Academic authors ‘shocked’ after Taylor & Francis sells access to their research to Microsoft AI

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The Bookseller: “Authors have expressed their shock after the news that academic publisher Taylor & Francis, which owns Routledge, had sold access to its authors’ research as part of an Artificial Intelligence (AI) partnership with Microsoft—a deal worth almost £8m ($10m) in its first year. The agreement with Microsoft was included in a trading update… Continue Reading