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Meta admits using pirated books to train AI, but won't pay for it (www.techspot.com)

submitted 8 months ago by throws_lemy@lemmy.nz to c/technology@lemmy.world

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[–] BudgieMania@kbin.social 101 points 8 months ago (5 children)

You see, if you pirate a couple textbooks in college because you don't have resources, but you want to earn your right to participate in society and not starve, it's called theft.

But if one of the top 10 companies in the world does the same with thousands of books just to get even richer, it's called fair use.

Simple, really.

[–] SnotFlickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone 28 points 8 months ago

This guy gets it. The laws aren't applied evenly. It's "he who has the most fuck you money wins."

[–] just_change_it@lemmy.world 18 points 8 months ago

Laws are to protect the haves from the have-nots.

[–] painfulasterisk@lemmy.world 15 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I went to grad school in the USA. I bought the international version of a few books that were going to be used in class (knew beforehand that the recommended lectures weren't written by any faculty member at such a university), but that didn't stop the professor from going aggressive and saying that my books were banned from the classroom because they aren't the USA version. When I told the professor what the difference was between me buying a text book for $15 instead of $200 and a Fortune 500 outsourcing entire departments instead of hiring USA employees?

Interestingly, my books weren't an issue. Yes, I gambled being publicly labeled as a troublemaker in my engineering department (probably I was labeled privately within faculty members).

[–] BudgieMania@kbin.social 3 points 8 months ago

I hope somebody pokes that professor's nipples

[–] JoeKrogan@lemmy.world 8 points 8 months ago (1 children)

The internet archive library fiasco springs to mind.

[–] BudgieMania@kbin.social 2 points 8 months ago

I was ready to go on a tirade about that but I think a better use of my time is to show appreciation for the excellent JoeKrogan username

[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 5 points 8 months ago (2 children)

My friend posted this on social media. This is an eBook textbook for one of his graduate school classes.

In case you can't read that clearly, the eBook version is $87.95. The paperback (not even hardcover textbook) version is $120.95.

Fucking insane.

[–] AlolanYoda@mander.xyz 3 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Can I take this opportunity to ask what the hell "adopting" a book means?

[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 3 points 8 months ago

I have absolutely no idea.

[–] BudgieMania@kbin.social 2 points 8 months ago

"family therapy" is what you are gonna need if you have to pay 100 bucks for a bunch of paper sheets that you are gonna use once in your life, fuck me