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→ “Torrenting from a corporate laptop doesn’t feel right”: Meta emails unsealed
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/02/meta-torrented-over-81-7tb-of-pirated-books-to-train-ai-authors-say/
“"The magnitude of Meta’s unlawful torrenting scheme is astonishing," the authors' filing alleged, insisting that "vastly smaller acts of data piracy—just .008 percent of the amount of copyrighted works Meta pirated—have resulted in Judges referring the conduct to the US Attorneys’ office for criminal investigation."”
I think there are two subjects here:
1/ Once again, the habit of Meta/Facebook to engage in illegal activities. This is undoubtedly reflective of an organizational culture common in Silicon Valley and among Big Tech, which often flirt with the boundaries of the law—or even 'just move fast and break things'. However, nowhere is this more evident than at Meta, which poses serious questions.
2/ The “stealing” of books—which, when we defend free culture, art, and knowledge for all (with free as in free speech and as in free coffee)—is something I cannot really condemn, even though I have no sympathy for Meta. The free-culture movement and debate may not be very vivid, but shouldn’t we take also this kind of opportunity to defend those principles?
@homlett there’s a big difference sharing books themselves between individuals and using them as inputs in your for-profit business, however.
@apyth Yes, totally. Especially when the work that come out of them is not freely distributed, and/or used against the authors.