Month: July 2020

Izera: Polen will bezahlbare Elektroautos bauen

Electromobility Poland hat zwei Elektroautos unter der Marke Izera vorgestellt. Sie sollen bezahlbar werden – durch Finanzierungsangebote. (Auto, Technologie)

Electromobility Poland hat zwei Elektroautos unter der Marke Izera vorgestellt. Sie sollen bezahlbar werden - durch Finanzierungsangebote. (Auto, Technologie)

Internet Archive Tells Court its Digital Library is Protected Under Fair Use

The Internet Archive has filed its answer and affirmative defenses in response to a copyright infringement lawsuit filed by a group of publishers. Among other things, IA believes that its work is protected under the doctrine of fair use and the safe harbor provisions of the DMCA.

From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.

Internet ArchiveBack in March the Internet Archive (IA) launched its National Emergency Library (NEL)

Built on its existing Open Library, the NEL aimed to assist “displaced learners” with initially unlimited access to more than a million books.

Already angered by the activities of the Open Library, major publishers Hachette, HarperCollins, John Wiley and Penguin Random House responded by filing a massive copyright infringement lawsuit against the Internet Archive.

Background to Publishers’ Lawsuit

In their complaint the publishers equated the libraries to pirate services, stating they had no right to scan books and lend them out. Claiming direct and secondary copyright infringement, they demanded millions of dollars in statutory damages.

In June, IA founder Brewster Kahle called on the publishers to make peace but with no public sign of that happening, the lawsuit is progressing.

This week the most significant responsive document so far appeared on the docket, detailing Internet Archive’s answer to the complaint and its affirmative defenses. It begins with a lengthy opening statement which in part seeks to highlight synergies between the now-warring factions.

Internet Archive’s Answer – Controlled Digital Lending

“Like Plaintiffs, the Internet Archive believes that ‘[b]ooks are a cornerstone of our culture and system of democratic self-government’ and ‘play a critical role in education.’ Accordingly, democratizing access to information, and facilitating access to books in particular, has been a core part of the Internet Archive’s mission for decades,” it reads.

“But, for many people, distance, time, cost, or disability pose daunting and sometimes insurmountable barriers to accessing physical books. Digitizing and offering books online for borrowing unlocks them for communities with limited or no access, creating a lifeline to trusted information.”

The statement spends time explaining the process of CDL – Controlled Digital Lending – noting that the Internet Archive provides a digital alternative to traditional libraries carrying physical books. As such, it “poses no new harm to authors or the publishing industry.”

Not only that, CDL as practiced by the Internet Archive is entirely legal, the defendants argue.

Legal Under the Copyright Act’s Fair Use Doctrine

“The Internet Archive has made careful efforts to ensure its uses are lawful. The Internet Archive’s CDL program is sheltered by the fair use doctrine, buttressed by traditional library protections. Specifically, the project serves the public interest in preservation, access and research—all classic fair use purposes,” IA’s answer reads.

“As for its effect on the market for the works in question, the books have already been bought and paid for by the libraries that own them. The public derives tremendous benefit from the program, and rights holders will gain nothing if the public is deprived of this resource.”

In addition to the usual laundry list of responses to various claims and allegations made in the complaint, the Internet Archive ultimately arrives at the meat of its answer.

Seven Affirmative Defenses

In its first affirmative defense, IA argues that the complaint fails to state a claim. In other words, even if the allegations in the complaint were found to be true, they are insufficient to establish a cause of action.

As expected, IA’s second affirmative defense centers on fair use, arguing that even when the publishers’ copyrighted materials were used, such use is protected under law. Furthermore, IA argues that the plaintiffs’ claims are barred “in whole in part” by the First Sale Doctrine, including under 17 U.S.C. § 109.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, given the claims of copyright infringement and Internet Archive’s positive responses to takedown notices, the answer states that IA is also protected “in whole or in part” by 17 U.S.C. § 512(c), commonly known as the safe harbor provisions of the Copyright Act.

Other affirmative defenses state that the publishers are not entitled to statutory damages because IA believed that its use of the copyrighted content was covered by fair use, while the complaint flounders due to the Statute of Limitations and the doctrine of laches.

As previously reported, the Internet Archive’s defense is being handled by California-based law firm Durie Tangri and is supported by the team at the EFF.

Internet Archive’s Answer and Affirmative Defenses can be obtained here (pdf)

From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.

MS Flight Simulator angespielt: Airbus 320neo mit Tastatur gesteuert

Wie fliegt sich der Airbus 320neo? Golem.de hat es am PC ausprobiert – und von den Entwicklern mehr über den Flight Simulator erfahren. Von Peter Steinlechner (Flugsimulator, Microsoft)

Wie fliegt sich der Airbus 320neo? Golem.de hat es am PC ausprobiert - und von den Entwicklern mehr über den Flight Simulator erfahren. Von Peter Steinlechner (Flugsimulator, Microsoft)

Flight Simulator hands-on: Microsoft looks different 20,000 feet in the air

The news is (mostly) great: VR, Steam, TrackIR, night flying, tons more.

  • This opening gallery includes screen captures provided by Microsoft. Based on our extensive hands-on time, we believe they're wholly reflective of real in-game performance. [credit: Microsoft / Asobo ]

Pilots, we thank you for choosing Ars Technica for your travel needs. Microsoft Flight Simulator's closed beta is about to take off as a prelude to its retail launch in three weeks, so we're here to talk about a few things, preflight style. Consider this your incredibly long safety manual.

First, the developers at France's Asobo Studio, who have been building this new game since 2016, have a ton of news about the game. We'll start by summing up upcoming features and third-party marketplace partners, along with the devs' perspective about what they've done since the game entered a closed alpha phase in February.

Second, we've been testing MSFS's closed alpha for months, albeit with a ridiculous series of visual watermarks that has stopped us from leaking footage of every beautiful flight across the globe. That alpha build was quite similar to what I tested in August 2019, however, which meant I didn't have much to report until a fuller update that landed roughly two weeks ago.

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Aufmarsch der Milizen

In den Vereinigten Staaten gewinnt die Mobilmachung für den molekularen Bürgerkrieg an Fahrt

In den Vereinigten Staaten gewinnt die Mobilmachung für den molekularen Bürgerkrieg an Fahrt

Geländewagen: General Motors zeigt Elektro-Hummer

Den E-Hummer wird es als Pick-up und in einer traditionellen Kabinenversion geben. Beide sollen das neue Assistenzpaket Super Cruise 2 erhalten. Von Andreas Donath (Elektroauto, Technologie)

Den E-Hummer wird es als Pick-up und in einer traditionellen Kabinenversion geben. Beide sollen das neue Assistenzpaket Super Cruise 2 erhalten. Von Andreas Donath (Elektroauto, Technologie)

Bacteria live despite burial in seafloor mud for 100 million years

Ancient communities of bacteria jump to life with a fresh meal.

Yuki Morono of the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology handles bacteria that might be 100 million years old. Be careful!

Enlarge / Yuki Morono of the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology handles bacteria that might be 100 million years old. Be careful! (credit: Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology)

You know those videos where people open (or even eat?) military rations from World War II? It’s shocking to see just how well-preserved these “foods” can be after all those decades. In a way, Yuki Morono and his team of researchers at the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology flipped that experience around by giving modern food to some old organisms. But their case involved bringing up ancient mud from the seafloor and adding some food to see if anything was alive in there.

There were, in fact, bacteria in the mud, which likely doesn’t sound surprising. But given the environment and the age of this stuff—100 million years—it’s actually pretty remarkable.

In deep

Life deep below ground or below the seafloor isn’t studied as well as the readily accessible surface world. Sampling has shown that seafloor mud in different parts of the ocean differ a lot in terms of the types and abundance of microbial life that are present. But in this case, the researchers sampled deep sediments in the middle of the South Pacific, where there’s extremely little organic matter available for life to grow on.

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