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GtrsRGr8 · 10-02-2018, 06:28 PM

Concerning the Internet Archive and the fact (apparently) that they legitimately loan books out . . . . what makes that okay whereas, according to the Authors Guild, at least, what the OpenLibrary does is not?

Is the issue the fact (apparently) that the OpenLibrary scans a book, without the copyrght holder's permission, and/or (again, apparently) will loan out limitless copies of the book at one time? I never did see an "on hold," or anything to that effect, on any of the OpenLibrary's loaners (I admit, I didn't look around all that much on their site) whereas I frequently come across that with the Internet Archives' loaners.

Apparently (again), the IA gets only a few, or maybe just one, copies at a time--probably from the publisher or copyright holder. When that copy, or those copies, is loaned out, one or more people who come along wanting to borrow it/them just have to wait until the copy/copies are returned.

. . . . Which prompts the question: if I own a digital book, am I free to loan it out to someone else, just as I would be with a paper-based book that I owned, as long as I don't retain one or more copies on my computer? I think that it would depend upon the DRM status (unless you used one of the tools that I know that exist out there to break a DRM-Protection on an ebook with it (that's about the limit to what I know about that)) as to whether or not that would even be do-able.

But my main question is, what is/are the difference(s) that make what the OpenLibrary does unacceptable, and the OpenLibrary's unacceptable?

10-02-2018, 06:28 PM	#6
GtrsRGr8 Grand Sorcerer Posts: 7,334 Karma: 27815322 Join Date: Aug 2012 Location: Southeastern U.S., ya'll Device: Kindle; Kindle (10.1.1) for PC; Kindle Cloud Reader	Thinking and Asking, Outloud Concerning the Internet Archive and the fact (apparently) that they legitimately loan books out . . . . what makes that okay whereas, according to the Authors Guild, at least, what the OpenLibrary does is not? Is the issue the fact (apparently) that the OpenLibrary scans a book, without the copyrght holder's permission, and/or (again, apparently) will loan out limitless copies of the book at one time? I never did see an "on hold," or anything to that effect, on any of the OpenLibrary's loaners (I admit, I didn't look around all that much on their site) whereas I frequently come across that with the Internet Archives' loaners. Apparently (again), the IA gets only a few, or maybe just one, copies at a time--probably from the publisher or copyright holder. When that copy, or those copies, is loaned out, one or more people who come along wanting to borrow it/them just have to wait until the copy/copies are returned. . . . . Which prompts the question: if I own a digital book, am I free to loan it out to someone else, just as I would be with a paper-based book that I owned, as long as I don't retain one or more copies on my computer? I think that it would depend upon the DRM status (unless you used one of the tools that I know that exist out there to break a DRM-Protection on an ebook with it (that's about the limit to what I know about that)) as to whether or not that would even be do-able. But my main question is, what is/are the difference(s) that make what the OpenLibrary does unacceptable, and the OpenLibrary's unacceptable?