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31 March 2020CopyrightSarah Morgan

Internet Archive ‘emergency library’ sparks outrage from authors

Last week, the digital library Internet Archive launched its ‘national emergency library’, expanding access to 1.4 million digitised works, to meet the “unprecedented global and immediate need for access to reading and research materials” during the COVID-19 pandemic.

But the  launch has drawn scathing criticism from authors, and author and publishers associations, who have accused Internet Archive of making an “opportunistic attack” on the rights of authors and publishers in the midst of the outbreak.

Over the weekend, authors including  Neil Gaiman and  Colson Whitehead condemned the move, which now allows Internet Archive to lend books to anyone at the same time, instead of a one-in, one-out ebook borrowing system.

In a  tweet, Pulitzer-winner Whitehead claimed: “They scan books illegally and put them online. It's not a library.”

The Authors Guild in the US  said that it was shocked that the service would “use the COVID-19 epidemic as an excuse to push copyright law further out to the edges, and in doing so, harm authors, many of whom are already struggling”.

Amid the pandemic, authors across the world are having to cancel book tours and speaking engagements, and are losing out on freelance work. Full-time authors, according to the Authors Guild, had  mean writing incomes of only $20,300 a year prior to the crisis.

“Acting as a piracy site—of which there already are too many—the Internet Archive tramples on authors’ rights by giving away their books to the world,” said the Authors Guild, adding that the guild and authors sent hundreds of takedown notices to Internet Archive last year.

The Authors Guild sentiments were echoed by the Association of American Publishers, which  claimed: “It is the height of hypocrisy that the Internet Archive is choosing this moment – when lives, livelihoods and the economy are all in jeopardy – to make a cynical play to undermine copyright, and all the scientific, creative, and economic opportunity that it supports.”

Similarly, the UK’s Society of Authors claimed that the move was “disgraceful”. Nicola Solomon, chief executive of the society, added: “Internet Archive has no legal right to give away authors’ in-copyright work free of charge. It is piracy—pure and simple—and it must be stopped.”

However, Internet Archive has now fired back, publishing a lengthy  response to the piracy accusations and claiming that both associations’ statements contain falsehoods.

It argued that the books have not been acquired illegally and, just like a traditional library, have been acquired through purchase or donation.

“Libraries buy books or get them from donations and lend them out. This has been true and legal for centuries. The idea that this is stealing fundamentally misunderstands the role of libraries in the information ecosystem,” said the response.

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More on this story

Copyright
14 April 2020   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.
Copyright
2 June 2020   Four major book publishers have taken the Internet Archive to court, alleging the online library is engaged in “willful mass copyright infringement”.
Copyright
15 June 2020   The Internet Archive has ended its national emergency library earlier than planned, following a copyright infringement lawsuit filed by four publishers.