if you haven't heard lately, the internet archive lost its court case against four publishing houses (harpercollins, wiley, penguin random house llc., and hachette book group -- imprints linked so you know who and what to boycott!) and the authors that found it unacceptable to be missing out on, like, $15 of revenue due to the archive's library service.

this is pretty devastating to a lot of people. the internet archive isn't just a collection of webpage snapshots -- it's got archives of books, magazines, emulators, CD-ROMs, flash games, podcasts, audio recordings, and more. if the archive gets taken down, all of these things go with it. this isn't just about archive.org, either. the legal decisions made in this court case will have a direct impact on libraries everywhere -- yes, even yours.

they have already stated that they will be appealing. here's a link to the blog post made by archive.org about the whole debacle. many are saying they have a good chance in the second circuit court, but the fight's far from over, even if they get heard out. please, if you can, donate to archive.org, or to your local library. even just getting a library card at your local library helps out -- it tells people that libraries are being used, and that they're not irrelevant.

for me personally, what really sucks about this is how much multi-billion dollar corporations rule literally everything. because they are losing money, we have to lose a priceless cultural resource that helps millions of people for free every day. of course, this isn't the only case of this happening, but it's the most recent, and it's the most upsetting for me. it really makes me wonder how the hell people don't notice that stuff like this happens, or why it happens -- and that, of course, is capitalism. money is at the root of all of this, and it's all about the tiny amount of earnings they missed, and making sure that they have a monopoly over knowledge and literature. it's obvious, and it's so frustrating to have to watch it happen while being close to helpless about it.

so please! do what you can! tell your friends about what's happening! donate if you can, or even just get a library card -- it's free, and you can do so much more than just check out books with it. even if it's a lot of weight to shoulder, we should never give up on the fight to keep knowledge and the internet as a whole from being privatized.