Internet Archive defends ‘emergency library’ against Senator’s concerns
The Internet Archive has hit back at Senator Thom Tillis, who recently claimed that he was “deeply concerned” that the initiative is “operating outside the boundaries” of copyright law.
In mid-March, Internet Archive launched its ‘national emergency library’, expanding access to 1.4 million digitised works.
While the archive said the emergency library was launched to meet the “unprecedented global and immediate need for access to reading and research materials” during the COVID-19 pandemic, the move drew scathing criticism from authors, and author and publishers associations.
The Internet Archive subsequently fired back, publishing a lengthy response to the piracy accusations.
Then, last week, Tillis criticised the archive for taking the law into its own hands in a letter addressed to Brewster Kahle, founder of the Internet Archive. Tillis chairs the US Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on IP.
“I am not aware of any measure under copyright law that permits a user of copyrighted works to unilaterally create an emergency copyright act. Indeed, I am deeply concerned that your ‘library’ is operating outside the boundaries of the copyright law that Congress has enacted and alone has jurisdiction to amend,” said Tillis in his letter.
However, although the letter criticises Internet Archive, Tillis doesn’t ask the archive to take any action. “At some point when the global pandemic is behind us, I would be happy to discuss ways to promote access to books in a manner that respects copyright law and the property interests of American authors and publishers,” he concluded.
But, in a response issued shortly after, the Internet Archive defended itself, claiming that it doesn’t need an “emergency copyright act” because its effort is protected under copyright’s fair use doctrine.
“We also understand that authors are being impacted by this global pandemic, and we have been engaging in a dialogue with authors around the national emergency library,” said the letter.
It added that while some authors have expressed concern about recently published books or books that are being released this year, these books are not part of the emergency library.
“We were also clear that any author who did not want a book in the library need only to send us an email3 and we have responded to them quickly. This is contrary to the process claimed by the Authors Guild, which asserts that authors must send us a formal Digital Millennium Copyright Act notice,” stated the Internet Archive.
According to the non-profit company, authors have contacted it directly to have their book included in the emergency library “because they want their work to be part of this equitable approach to lending while libraries are closed”.
However, the Internet Archived did recognise that in its haste to respond to the urgent needs of teachers, students, and librarians, it didn’t do enough to engage with the broader information ecosystem, like authors, publishers and policymakers.
It concluded: “We are engaging in those conversations now and we would welcome your participation in discussions about how to meet the urgent access needs of our country during this crisis and beyond.”
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