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Comment by jacquesm | Hacker News Reader

I have three favorite properties on the web: Wikipedia, the Khan Academy and the Internet Archive.

Whoever thought this was a good idea should own up to it and step down, this was a dumb move if there ever was one and risking one of the prime - and very fragile - properties on the web like this was highly irresponsible. Keep in mind that IA already has plenty of enemies who are continuously monitoring it and hoping to find a way to shut them down, then hand them this sort of thing on a golden platter. Beyond stupid, really.

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It's heartbreaking that they're going to self-destruct over _this_. The Internet Archive holds invaluable collections of digital content for which there is no replacement, and they decided to put all of that work in mortal danger just to replicate the services that thousands of libraries already provide? For a few months?

The only guess I can make is that there are people with power at the IA that fail to appreciate the value of the unique services the organization provides, and would rather be running a traditional library instead. Once the dust has settled, I would be interested in reading an account of how this happened.

That's a good list, but OpenStreetMaps should really be added to it :)

I'm an old-time OSMer, but really I have had zero use for any kind of map in the last 2 months.

Scanning and providing access to digital copies of books was the dumb move---without that, they would not have attracted the enmity of publishers. The fastest and most successful way to avoid the destruction of an organization is always to concede to the wishes of its enemies. Preemptively, if possible.

Have you seen the ebooks they’re lending out?

They’re a DRM encumbered pile of JPEGs. The ebooks available at a local library via OverDrive are Kindle ebooks with all the searching and bookmarking enabled.

The ones I've seen could be downloaded as ordinary .PDFs if you select that option in the menu.

I've contributed heavily to IA in the past and would never stick up for traditional publishing in a fight like this one. But turning themselves into a modern-day Pirate Bay was a suicidal tactic on their part. I can only hope they're playing some kind of long game that outsiders can't yet appreciate.

Maybe even jpeg2000 in some cases. Also long render times on computers; impossible to read on e-readers.

If they were a global organization, they couldn't be shutdown completely. Like Pirate Bay.

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