Here's a link to the Internet Archive's page, describing how you can participate and listen to oral arguments on Monday March 20th at 1pm ET

You may know the Internet Archive because of the Wayback Machine!!

The court case Hachette v Internet Archive is being brought to court and threatens to tear down the Internet Archive as we know it.

"The Internet Archive is a nonprofit digital library, preserving and providing access to cultural artifacts of all kinds in electronic form. CDL allows people to check out digital copies of books for two weeks or less, and only permits patrons to check out as many copies as the Archive and its partner libraries physically own. That means that if the Archive and its partner libraries have only one copy of a book, then only one patron can borrow it at a time, just like any other library. Through CDL, the Internet Archive is helping to foster research and learning by helping its patrons access books and by keeping books in circulation when their publishers have lost interest in them."

This is so important because not only does the Internet Archive provide books that are long out of circulation and copies for people to borrow, they are also used as sources for things like Wikipedia articles! Imagine if suddenly, no one could access sources that someone cites for their information! Having access to information digitally today is a very important thing, and with all of the paywalls people face nowadays for news, imagine if you suddenly had to pay for access to any books. Websites like Amazon already are attempting to replace any sort of ebook rentals with paid services, when we have the right to borrow books online just as we do physically. The Internet Archive is extremely important and one of our rights- access to information- is actively being fought against.

REMEMBER: This will not JUST affect the internet archive. This could change how libraries in general work, and could threaten public access to information. Imagine how many youtube video essay sources would be null and void, imagine just trying to research an obscure topic at 3am-- If all of that was behind a paywall, only those with money would be able to access them! The harder it is for libraries to share books and archive information, the more the public suffers!

Please show your support! Read more about the case here: https://www.eff.org/cases/hachette-v-internet-archive

https://www.battleforlibraries.com/

I'm not sure how quick Tumblr will work on approving this blazed post but if the day/time has passed, please know that you can actively look into more information on this case and other info on the Internet Archive Blogs. You can also add your name to a list of supporters of Battle for Libraries Here.

In the midst of waves of anti-queer panic, hate, and legislation it is as important as ever to defend our right to access and learn from our history.

Today (March 20, 2023) supporters of the Internet Archive are speaking out to raise awareness about the ongoing lawsuits they and other libraries are facing. Take some time to learn more by visiting the website below, and speak up to protect our communities.

Big Media’s lobbyists have been running a smear campaign trying to paint the Internet Archive as a greedy big tech operation bent on stealing books—which is totally absurd. If you’ve ever used the WayBack Machine, listened to their wonderful archives of live music, or checked out one of their 37 million texts, it’s time to speak up. With publishing revenues approaching 30 billion per year in the US and monopolistic consolidation among publishing corporations, the publishing industry is incredibly powerful and moves aggressively to silence dissent. 

The Internet Archive’s determination to keep fighting is a big deal! 

Here are ways to support:

Sign the petition above.

Join 25+ major civil and human rights organizations in calling for a congressional investigation into surveillance and erasure in digital books—efforts that the Internet Archive is actively fighting against—at https://www.battleforlibraries.com/congress/ 

Sign the Internet Archive’s petition calling on publishers to restore 500,000 books that have been removed from the Archive due to the lawsuit: http://letreadersread.com/

Share your story about how having half a million books removed from the Internet Archive has impacted your reading or research—either on X or via this form.

Post about why you love the Internet Archive and give them a tag. Please share with your community why this institution is important to you. Use the hashtag #DigitalRightsForLibraries!

Invite your friends here, to BattleForLibraries.com, and ask them to sign the petition, too!

As you may know, I am a passionate lover of the Internet Archive. Through 2020, I ran a section on my ephemera blog where I talked about hits from the Wayback Machine; I am a contributor myself, to the extent that my free time allows; even a lot of the music I play on streams is from there.

Yesterday, the worst happened: the future of 4 million digital books on the Internet Archive is now at stake, as well as libraries everywhere in the USA. I learned that the methods being targeted in this lawsuit (CDL, Controlled Digital Lending) are not just unique to the Internet Archive, but apply to the way even libraries like the fucking Boston Public Library, one of the largest libraries in the United States. This is a threat to public libraries and accessibility. The alternative we are expected to follow is book bans.

How can I help?

Donate if you have the money, obviously. But I know that's hard.

Sign the petition and sign up for email updates at Battle for Libraries. Not just a change.org petition but an established group that is working on organizing rallies.

They have some freebie graphics you can put on your posts (above). I don't see the harm in it.

Subscribe to the Empowering Libraries newsletter.

Support your local library. Even just going there when you can counts, they need the numbers! Check out books, look at their equipment if they have a makerspace.

Now's a good time to make personal backups of things that you could not live without. There's no real hope of an Internet Archive Archive (more on why it's more difficult than you think), but decentralized backups are always a good thing.

Don't just take it for me. DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH!

How to argue with "But piracy..."

First off, don't argue with trolls. But if you have an acquaintance who really doesn't get it, here's some resources.

Bandcamp's stance on piracy: "It’s not like they’d slap their forehead and open their wallet. Instead, they’d just move on to some other site where those restrictions aren’t in place."

"But if they steal it – how can I make money?"

Small Publisher Embraces Controlled Digital Lending to Connect with New Readers: "I think in the end, it drives sales because you are finding readers you wouldn’t normally have. Those readers aren’t getting a copy that they keep forever — it’s a copy that’s going to lead them to want to own it."

Basically, publishing companies are saying that libraries can't scan the books THAT THEY OWN and rent them out digitally. Instead, they have to rent out digital versions of books that THEY ALREADY HAVE from said publishing companies for RIDICULOUS PRICES just so they can digitally share a book that they have.

the worst part of this renting system is not only that it costs libraries tons of money that they don't have because of underfunding, but also it means that publishers can track what books you read and use that as advertising data or legal prosecution. Imagine you going to check out a book on abortion or trans healthcare, then you get monitored for breaking pro-life or anti-trans healthcare laws from your state!

another thing this renting system lets happen is the publisher removing books whenever they want despite people still reading them. just, whenever they want

this lawsuit is so blatantly capitalistic and against EVERYTHING libraries stand for, it's ridiculous

here's how you can support libraries:

go to this website! there, you can sign a petition and learn more about not only the lawsuit, but how to help against anti-privacy and censorship

you can also help by spreading the word! either by rebloging this post or telling people about it irl, we need people to know about this stuff

Amazingly, on the same day the news came out about the Internet Archive, I happened to be reading a book with a stunning list of online library collections. A lot of these sites even use the Internet Archive to host their digitized books!

The freebie 'window' graphic you can get from Battle for Libraries is my favorite, but it's faux-pixel and very compressed, so it's not easy to edit. I've recreated it to the best of my ability; the window details suffered the worst (they were a completely different "pixel" size) but I think it looks alright.

Have some fun with it: