A nuanced “Global South” take by @nwbrownboi re: LibGen, Copyright & AI + contrast from @greg_jenner & @prof_alice_roberts (all Threads) HT @dsearls

Quoted with links & refs to an Atlantic article; punch quote:

Where was this outrage when students & researchers in the Global South needed these books to study, work, and build a future? AI isn’t the first thing to challenge your control over knowledge. It’s just the first time you’ve noticed.

Quoth Shrey:

OK I am about to drop a really hot, nuanced take on Meta torrenting LibGen. I recognise this is a sensitive subject and to be clear – I dont approve of the torrenting. But there is a much broader point about LibGen that you – yes, you, a Western reader are not seeing. I ask you to read the rest of this in good faith. (1/6)

LibGen wasnt built for piracy – it was built for access. Created in 2008 (17 years ago, long before AI) by Russian scientists, it served students & researchers in India, Africa, Iran – places where Western paywalls kept knowledge locked away. You shouldnt need a shadow library to learn. But in these places – you did. And now, the same archive is fueling AI models that Westerners suddenly find very concerning. (2/6)

LibGen was never about theft it was about survival. It gave access to knowledge that academia locked away. But now that AI companies scraped it? Now its a crisis? Where was this outrage when students & researchers in the Global South needed these books to study, work, and build a future? AI isnt the first thing to challenge your control over knowledge. Its just the first time youve noticed. (3/6)

For decades, Western publishers profited off knowledge hoarding. Now AI is absorbing books, and suddenly the institutions that never cared about access are crying theft. The gatekeepers are losing power, but that doesnt mean the people are winning. You ignored the fight over open knowledge – until AI came for your books. (4/6)

LibGen shattered paywalls. AI could be the next great knowledge revolutionor the final enclosure. That choice isnt up to publishers anymore. But it could be up to you. Will you demand open-source AI, knowledge for all? Or will you only fight for access after its been locked away from you, too? (5/6)

The problem isnt AI – its who controls it. AI could be an open-source library, crediting & compensating authors, making knowledge truly accessible instead of locked in corporate models. (Some models are working on citations.) But that requires breaking the cycle of extraction. Thats not a fantasy – its just a choice we havent made yet. AI could be another gatekeeper, or it could be a bridge to something better. I know which one I want. (6/6)

…and Greg Jenner:

So, all three of my books for adults (plus translations) have been illegally pirated on LibGen, and then stolen again by Meta to train their AICopyright law is being utterly trampled on, over and over. I hate it. And the charming irony that I can only spread the word about it on Meta! The article is in The Atlantic

…and Prof Roberts:

Blimey. Looks like pretty much ALL of my books have been pirated by LibGen – the place that’s been scraped by generative AI developers. Real, human authors – and copyright law! – being flung into the jaws of this technological behemoth. Article in the Atlantic (thanks …)

I am delighted to see the pros-and-cons debates of copyright and of people making money from content rather than because of content (HT Doc Searls) – all being played-out again this decade as they were in the early days of blogging.

To me, this discourse is a sign of both harsh reality and gradual raising of awareness.

ps: I still think the gold standard here is the late Professor Ross Anderson who arranged with his publisher to permit him to make his books available for free download on his home page, a few years after publication of each edition.

pps: I wish I had a Threads unroller.