For many writers, the most important thing is not to settle a simple commercial dispute, but affects the very essence of their creative identity. The novelist Aj West, who led the demonstration, speaks with his guts, visibly very bruised: ” I was horrified to see my novels appearing in the Libgen database and I am disgusted by the silence of the government on the subject. Seeing my magnificent books thus stolen without my permission and without a compensation penny, then delivered to the AI monster, it is as if I had been attacked ».
The authors also sent a letter addressed to the secretary of culture Lisa Nandy, to ask him that the leaders of Meta be summoned to Parliament. It was signed by renowned authors like Richard Osman and Kazuo Ishiguro and was transformed into a Petition on Change.org, which collected 7,000 signatures.
Anna Ganley, general manager of the Soasummarizes the general feeling: ” The authors are legitimately rebellious. The existence of these online libraries of hacked books is already quite serious, but when global companies use them to illegally access works protected by copyright of the authors and exploit them, it is a double blow for the authors ».
It is said that very badly acquired never benefits. Mark Zuckerberg may learn at his expense.
