Secondhand booksellers believe they may have been caught up in the AI supply chain that sees old books scanned then destroyed
  • Syndication@lemmy.todayEnglish
    3 months

    This makes me so sad I almost wanna cry. How fucking heartless do you have to be to destroy books like some nazi book burning ritual? FFS as if I didnt despise AI enough already. Regulate AI into oblivion.

    • Cherry@piefed.socialEnglish
      3 months

      It’s about ringfencing the info/story. She should release the booklist so alternative digital can be collected and protected.

      There is no ‘good’ reason for destruction. Not even ideological. This is simple planned greed

      • Syndication@lemmy.todayEnglish
        3 months

        There is no ‘good’ reason for destruction. Not even ideological. This is simple planned greed

        It’s almost the same as how physical media is being phased out even in gaming, greed and preventing ownership. I can probably go on Annas Archive right now and get all the books I could ever want, but I still want to have physical books if they decide to metaphorically burn down the library of Alexandria and take down The Internet Archive and Annas archive. I feel like we are losing valuable information at an alarming rate, If the original books are lost and only the digital books remain, then what if someone edits/deletes the books to change history? Scary shit imo.

        Edit: Sorry for all the typos :(

        • Cherry@piefed.socialEnglish
          3 months

          Yup, its an assault from many directions. Books have had a glut in the past and TBH most people were reluctant to pay for average chaffe, our second hand shops are a testament. I personally love print, the smell the feel, the knowing the processes involved involved, I feel the same about other media. I will argue all day long recent digital has harmed these. I know some champion digital art, id argue if its so readily available is no longer desirable…but that is a whole other argument.

          I think for me its a matter of preserving the ideas. Why are they doing this? traditionally the idea of burning book was to stop the spread of ideas. In terms of revolution (renaissance, enlightenment, then industrial) each new one has information to flow free-er and ideas have grown So whats the aim here for burning? is it to sell the info, is it to repress ideas? i think identifying that will allow better preservation and resistance.

  • AwesomeLowlander@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    3 months

    Delfina Manor, who runs Good Reading Secondhand Books in Benalla, Victoria, said she received orders from Zoom Books in May amounting to three full boxes, but had to write to the company and ask them not to order in such volume again.

    “They ordered, paid in advance, and they didn’t quibble over the postage … [but] it would have been about 30 to 40 books, and so finding them, packing them, making sure you hadn’t missed one out … It was just driving me nuts,” Manor said.

    Wut. Are you a business or a hobby? Actually, even most hobbyists I know are more detail oriented than that.

    • sinwell@infosec.pubEnglish
      3 months

      Typically both, where the business is more like (a) their legitimization of the collecting to family and friends and (b) a way to help themselves let go of books slowly, knowing the point of books is not to sit on shelves.

      So an over large order of their books that won’t be read by a person is exactly the worst possible customer, rather than a boon to their business.

        • Cherry@piefed.socialEnglish
          3 months

          Cruella de-ville wanted 99 puppies back in the day and no one saw issue with that till it came out why…books, puppies, if you love the product, not wanting them to be used nefariously and choosing to air that moralistic stance rather than just cash in tells you a lot. This lady should be applauded.