Post Anm4Nowi3YLReJMnAG by liaholland@mastodon.online
(DIR) More posts by liaholland@mastodon.online
(DIR) Post #Anm4NewhEkOOdNHdku by liaholland@mastodon.online
2024-11-06T16:48:21Z
1 likes, 1 repeats
If you work in publishing or love books and are wondering what the actual f*** to do right now, I've got a recommendation:Get up to speed on reader surveillance and digital book censorship, and organize to resist it.
(DIR) Post #Anm4Ng0dHb8Rvs8IWu by liaholland@mastodon.online
2024-11-06T16:48:34Z
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With Elon about to be Lord of the Internet here in the US, meaningful AI regulations out the window, slop overtaking search results, and Zuck et all wholesale abandoning content moderation on disinfo, people who want to know the truth are going to turn to books and libraries.
(DIR) Post #Anm4NgnYLiGcNb1MmW by liaholland@mastodon.online
2024-11-06T16:48:51Z
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Especially digital books, especially in communities where books on issues like racial justice, abortion, and queer identity are banned.But does reading digital books create a honeypot of "enemies" for the new fascist regime?And can digital books be edited (read: censored) without our even knowing?
(DIR) Post #Anm4NhyDzWOi0z1P3Q by liaholland@mastodon.online
2024-11-06T16:49:33Z
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Right now, the answer is yes. My org @fight GLAAD, Color of Change, and 20+ other major civil society and racial justice orgs called it almost a year ago, right here: https://www.battleforlibraries.com/congress/Close this thread if you don't stop and read that letter now.
(DIR) Post #Anm4Nj9bah5xgZM0Qq by liaholland@mastodon.online
2024-11-06T16:50:08Z
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Since we spoke out, @internetarchive — one of the world's biggest and least surveilled digital libraries — has been forced to delete 500,000 books by a suit from major publishers. It's now facing an existential suit over music preservation from the same law firm: https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/internet-archive-major-label-music-lawsuit-1235105273/
(DIR) Post #Anm4Nk9HtMR2lsDGZk by liaholland@mastodon.online
2024-11-06T16:50:44Z
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Access to truthful information is shrinking, and the publishing industry's been complicit with big tech to surveil readers—whether it's Amazon's Kindle tracking literally everything you do on it or Elsevier scraping data to sell to data broker sister companies or Overdrive saving reading histories that can easily be subpoenaed.
(DIR) Post #Anm4NlRl4AnunRrX0K by liaholland@mastodon.online
2024-11-06T16:50:57Z
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We need a new movement for reader privacy, and for the integrity of books. I mean, they're literally purging Martin Luther King from the National Archives under BIDEN. Are they invisibly purging racial justice from existing digital books already? We can't know. https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/national-archives-history-colleen-shogan-f8512bc3
(DIR) Post #Anm4Nmi6MtTIiQW67M by liaholland@mastodon.online
2024-11-06T16:51:26Z
1 likes, 1 repeats
There's one thing that prevents wholesale purging of history from all the digital books we're about to rely on for the actual historical truth, and that's the ability to own the files. Both for individuals and for libraries.
(DIR) Post #Anm4Nnr07IBUGJgicy by liaholland@mastodon.online
2024-11-06T16:51:38Z
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If digital books aren't locked behind third party big tech licensing apps, all of us can preserve the truth. Libraries can choose whether or not to surveil readers, whether or not to retain reading histories by default. Readers can choose surveillance-free reading apps, and trust their books haven't been silently edited in the night.
(DIR) Post #Anm4Nowi3YLReJMnAG by liaholland@mastodon.online
2024-11-06T16:51:51Z
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We need alternatives that protect readers yesterday. We need Signal for books.How do we get there? We need a movement in publishing. Y'all need to do it. Authors. Editors. Agents. Booksellers. Librarians. Book-Lovers. Just like right to repair, we need a right to read the truth and feel safe doing it. Start by getting up to speed on what's been done in your name. https://www.battleforlibraries.com/congress/
(DIR) Post #Annt31GAMtecZxGXLM by Hyolobrika@social.fbxl.net
2024-11-07T15:33:23.170607Z
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@liaholland Just have a local copy that doesn't connect to the internet. Easy.
(DIR) Post #AnntCCnUqDPAy6EgnA by Hyolobrika@social.fbxl.net
2024-11-07T15:35:02.997466Z
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@liaholland https://annas-archive.org/