4/6/2023
Wikipedia has lost the lawsuit against the publishers what comes next?
Save as many Wikipedia Articles as you can.
Important links about the lawsuit.
According the link at the top of this page. “As it stands, this decision only applies to Internet Archive and is only about the 127 books on which the publishers based their lawsuit.”
Background
From the Wikipedia
“Four major publishers—Hachette, Penguin Random House, John Wiley & Sons, and HarperCollins, all members of the Association of American Publishers—filed a lawsuit in the Southern New York Federal District Court against the Internet Archive in June 2020, asserting the Open Library project violated numerous copyrights.”
I thought the Internet Lending Library was a terrible idea. I told them so. I was vocal about it. I contacted them. I said this reader that you have on the Wayback Machine is terrible. The reader makes it almost impossible to read. The fonts are very poor and the window is extremely tiny. There is also Open Library which is part of the Internet Archive.
Government Lent Books
The government owns Libby or Library Overdrive. There is not much difference between official government owned digital book lending and the Internet Archive. I can understand the point. I just never used it because I have ADD. I have to be highly motivated in order to embrace the tedium of digital book borrowing. I only “borrow” books to get information for references. If I want to read a book, I want my own copy. I don’t read a lot of books and I try to focus on Classics. I don’t spend much money on books because most books I find I don’t really want or need to read them. Wikipedia means the world to me. I feel it’s being threatened. Who can say if only the government can lend out books? I thought the concept of a library was so economically disadvantaged people living in the past could find knowledge that would help them earn a living or improve their lives. I also think if Internet Archive can not lend digital books the government should also stop doing so. There is so much free information online. No one needs book borrowing to better their lives.
This book should be Free
There’s a book about Beach Boy Dennis Wilson whom had briefly befriended Charles Manson. Dennis Wilson: The Real Beach Boy by Jon Stebbins. It’s out of print and it’s very expensive used. This would be a case where I would say, yes this book is out of print nobody is making a profit on it. I think the whole book should be free to everyone who wants it just for the data.
Data Hoarders Unite
Because I hoard data I use Wikipedia a lot. I find it convenient to use Archive Today to save every single Wikipedia article I read (whether or not it’s controversial). In the case Wikipedia loses the lawsuit, I think we (the collective people) could rebuild the entire Wikipedia using Archive Today. I know that sounds like an ambitious project but I think in about 10 years we could create a new Wikipedia. Many have tried to create new Wikis already. They collect the data from Wikipedia because that data isn’t copyrighted in order to create a different Wiki. I’ve looked into some of these other Wikipedias but I found they are just older outdated Wikipedia articles.
Even an out of date Wikipedia article is very useful for creating a new Wikipedia rather then starting from scratch without any of the shortcuts that Wikipedia provides. I saved every Wikipedia article I read. Some entries are deleted. I had saved a link to song Saturday Nite by Earth Wind and Fire. I found two years later it was deleted, presumably for not being a big enough hit. Unfortunately it failed to save in either Archive Today or Wayback and its permanently gone forever.
This article has been updated, revised and is ready for comments. I will reply to you 100%
Macy Makes Magic 