Here's a grim inevitable prediction for this capitalist hellscape we live in:
Publishers will, inevitably, as per the law of capitalism, do away with physical books entirely.
The only books that will exist will be ebooks -- and you can't buy them, either. You don't own books, don't be silly, that's such a ridiculous idea! No, you have to pay a subscription to see the books, and pay for every minute or even word you read.
And books can be revoked at any time, and you may never see them again, with no warning or explanation.
You think if I wrote this as a dystopian novel people would figure out why shitting on the Internet Archive is bad? Like what do these people think is going to happen next? If the Internet Archive isn't allowed to lend out books they own, what do you think is going to happen next? You think these capitalist overlords of ours won't keep pushing? Make it illegal for you to let friends borrow books from you?
Capitalism is by definition always destinted to get worse. It literally cannot get better. It will always become more extreme. First they want to destroy the Internet Archive. Next they'll make it illegal for you to lend a book to a friend. Then they'll try to get rid of physical books entirely. They'll make it so the only way to read is to pay a never ending subscription for ebooks that you cannot buy.
This is the inevitable course of capitalism in regards to books and your right to actually own the property you've paid for.
They already want to make it illegal to share your Netflix password with your parents.
You think they won't make it illegal to share books with your friends?
The assault on the Internet Archive's lending library isn't about "protecting authors". It's about attacking your ownership over the things you have bought and paid for.
It's about turning books into the next subscription-only service, which you do not own, cannot buy, and have no right to keep.
And taking down the Internet Archive's lending library is literally just the first fucking step on this ladder to the dystopia I've described.
Capitalism is never-ending, never-moral, always starving for more profit over any other consideration.
If you let them argue that the Internet Archive doesn't actually own the books they've paid for, you open the way for them to claim that no one owns anything they've paid for.
