Internet Archive must remove 500,000 books after court rules in favor of publishers |

The Internet Archive suddenly has half a million fewer books on offer. This is the result of a legal dispute between book publishers and the free online library, reported ArsTechnica. The publishers have long been skeptical of the Internet Archive’s approach and accuse it of copyright infringement.

The Internet Archive, for its part, has said it will challenge the court’s order and reiterate its position. It wants to convince the court that its e-book lending does not result in a violation of existing copyright laws and that there is no evidence that the e-book market or publishers have suffered harm as a result of the Internet Archive’s activities. The court will hear the case starting June 28.

“We use industry-standard technology to prevent our books from being downloaded and redistributed – the same technology used by commercial publishers,” IA’s director of library services Chris Freeland wrote in the blog. “But the publishers suing our library say we can’t lend the books we own. They have forced us to remove more than half a million books from our library, and that’s why we are appealing.”

Freeland also compared the court case to a fight “for the preservation of all libraries and the fundamental right of access to information, a cornerstone of any democratic society.”

“We believe in the right of authors to profit from their work; and we believe that libraries must be allowed to fulfil their role of providing access to knowledge, whether it is in physical or digital form. This supports the principle that knowledge should be equally and equitably accessible to all, regardless of where they live or learn.”

IA also stated that they are working for a noble cause as the marginalized sections of society, the economically disadvantaged, people from rural areas, etc. benefit immensely from IA’s activities. No wonder IA fans have already sent an open letter to publishers, requesting them to restore access to the books currently marked as “unavailable for loan” on IA. The letter has already been signed by more than 20,000 people and the current goal is 25,000 signatures.

Since I am very interested in technology, I always keep myself up to date with the latest developments in technology and gadgets. These include smartphones or tablets, but also AI and self-driving cars, the latter being my latest trend. Besides writing, I like to watch videos, read, listen to music or experiment with different recipes. I am also very interested in films and will probably make a film at some point.