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Comment by neilv | Hacker News Reader

> This software does not endorse unauthorized acquisition of copyrighted content and should be regarded solely as a utility. Users are urged to respect the intellectual property rights of authors and acknowledge the considerable effort invested in document creation.

How sincere is that statement?

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I just provide a hammer. Users decide whether they're hitting their own nail or the metal one.

The comparison might be loose, but the problem is similar to releasing a browser. Do you prevent users from accessing websites you think are malicious or illegal? Or do you delegate that responsibility?

I was hesitant about releasing the MCP server as open source software, but I hope (1) it proves useful for others and (2) people understand that the authors of the books they're reading need money to eat, live, and support their families.

> The comparison might be loose, but the problem is similar to releasing a browser. Do you prevent users from accessing websites you think are malicious or illegal? Or do you delegate that responsibility?

I might liken the situation more to releasing a browser and setting thepiratebay as the homepage.

That would imply constantly reminding users of an available action, which isn't the case since the MCP server is just a dormant capability that needs to be triggered.

IMO, you're needlessly taking a defensive stand. It's ok to take a forward looking stand on how access to knowledge should be.

Oh come on. We all know there’s pretty much every novel you’ll find at Barnes&Noble on Anna's Archive as a pirated copy, not just scientific papers. At least be honest; it’s as much a mundane piracy tool as it is a knowledge repository.

I was absolutely saying that. Novels are part of the knowledge too - a scientific paper and a novel have equal weight

Phrasing "here's a way to pirate novels using an LLM" as "I'm on a mission to grant everyone access to the wealth of humanity's knowledge" is just disingenuous. Sure do novels count as knowledge, but there's a moral difference between making scientific content available to researchers for use in research versus saving money by pirating books.

Why is scientific content not saving money, and why can't novels be useful?

[flagged]

As sincere as LLM providers not wanting to get sued for the copyrighted content they used.

I'd bet you won't find a single string containing "acquire copyrighted content arrr!", so pretty sincere. The software doesn't endorse it.

As sincere as the user takes it.

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