If bankruptcy is a looming threat, they probably won't be able to do this.
Relevant quotes because its from Vox and I don't want anybody to have to go there that doesn't want to...
What is true is that the lawsuit asks for a court injunction against the Internet Archive — but it only asks for a halt to the practice of copying books for loan in the Open Library itself, not the entire IA. And while the IA’s supporters might decry the demise of the library itself — after all, a permanent injunction against digitizing works under copyright would decimate the library, though public domain books would remain available — the lawsuit takes pains to clarify that the publishers aren’t trying to shut down the rest of the Internet Archive.
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But in fact, the lawsuit seeks financial damages only for the sharing of 127 books under copyright, including titles like Gone Girl, A Dance with Dragons, and The Catcher in the Rye. If the court awards the plaintiffs the maximum amount provided under the law, the most the Internet Archive would have to pay would be $19 million — essentially equivalent to one year of operating revenue, according to IA tax documents. That’s a huge setback, but for the IA, a tech nonprofit that relies heavily on grants and public donations, it’s not the major death blow it might seem to be.
It's honestly amazing that people can still make money writing books in the first place.
It was a very fucking smooth-brained move on their part to do what they did. I'm honestly angry at them.
Yes, copyright is a fuck. But what did they think was going to happen? Did they think the masses would rise up in times of a virus and economic panic and what? Somehow protect them from the politicians, laws, etc?? Did they think a benevolent magical billionaire would appear, that Jeff Bezos would smugly step up and slam 2 billion dollars into their coffers to fight this? Pure liberal idealism.
People cheered them then forgot, there was no massive upswelling of public donations to buoy them for years to come. I mean given some of the content they host and link to in the videos section is straight up piracy uploaded by third parties I would think they would be a little smarter about angering these notorious litigious and insensitive interest groups and drawing their attention.
Great news. We should all be thankful that this digital den of thieves is being shut down.
