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Originally Posted by pondscum
Right, the Internet Archive/Open Library project wasn't some sort of fly-by-night operation; they had major backers and funding and would have had lawyers on board with the idea that your right to do anything you want with a paper book once you've bought it includes scanning it and lending it out, not just lending it out in paper form.
IMO, it's pretty clearly in the public interest for libraries to be able to archive e-books and make them available for lending at little or no cost. And it's in the interest of publishers and writers, too. How many paper books have I checked out of the library that introduced me to new authors and genres and books I subsequently bought by the dozens? How many kids developed a lifelong love of reading from being able to check out any book they wanted for free from a library?
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For the most part, the way one pushes the envelope legally in the US is to force a lawsuit. I don't think that this sort of thing is outrageous or a slam dunk in either direction. There are a lot of gray areas under fair use in the United States. US law is different that the rest of world with regards to copyright and when they passed the enabling legislation for the Berne Convention, they decided to leave fair use in play, even though it's not really something the rest of the world recognizes.