“zomg russian cyber criminals are using free books to fund their lavish lifestyles!!!1!1!!!1! you should go support corporate rent seeking publishers ‘creators’ by paying thousands for basic knowledge!!!11”

this shit sounds like it was written by a middle schooler making a history presentation. it’s hilarious

  • Moonrise2473@feddit.it
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    30 days ago

    Meanwhile, ai companies that are doing exactly the same are allowed to rack up billions in revenue.

    “It’s American for profit corporation, not a Russian cybercriminal!”

    • Christian@lemmy.ml
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      29 days ago

      If the DoJ replaced google.com with a similar scare screen, a message about the AI feature appearing before search results, and photos of CEO yachts, that might actually give me hope for the future.

      Maybe include a screenshot of the AI Overview so there’s no ambiguity about what feature was problematic. Something like this: google ai overview

      Tangent - I remember reading a blog post when oink got seized saying that if the guy behind it was trying to make a profit rather than to create a library he would be respected like another Steve Jobs rather than being imprisoned. I still 100% believe that.

      RIP oink’s pink palace, I was a member for only two or three years but it opened up the world to me. Got invited from a guy at my undergrad I never met in person or knew his name, there was a local filesharing network on campus with a few hundred students on it and we had similar music tastes so would im occasionally. Hope you are doing well wherever you are now, meowfaceman.

  • catloaf@lemm.ee
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    30 days ago

    Seems like a fairly reasonable way to live. Is that supposed to look lavish?

    Let’s see the lifestyles of the CEOs for Springer, Wiley, and Elsevier for comparison.

    • jawa21@lemmy.sdf.org
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      30 days ago

      Those fucks forcing money into their pockets from science are the absolute dregs of society. I actually respect angel investors more since maybe they made a good decision with their money (that feels gross to just type, even!). The fact that a select few companies are able to make science pay to win is absolutely sickening.

      This is coming from someone that never even graduated college, let alone spending time in academia.

  • Luke@lemmy.ml
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    30 days ago

    Oh no, somebody who might be Russian took a family vacation to go fishing with their loved ones!? What an orgy of indulgence! The audacity!

  • Christian@lemmy.ml
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    29 days ago

    It’s at least reassuring to know that the DoJ values the privacy of these horrible criminals enough to warrant blurring their faces. Hard to believe those assholes were spending the money on beautiful rainbows. A rainbow isn’t a tangible possession someone can just keep to themselves! The idea that some guy can just own this abstract thing is deeply offensive to me and I will not be giving any more of my hard-earned money to library genesis.

      • Crotaro@beehaw.org
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        29 days ago

        Memories once buried have been unearthed…

        But really, books already are not the way to make a fortune unless you are in the field of basically being able to dictate what books are used in every educational institution in an entire nation. How would they imagine a pirate, who shares these books, has server upkeep to pay and at best gets very sporadic donations, could afford a lavish lifestyle from this endeavour?

  • Uriel238 [all pronouns]
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    29 days ago

    Note that with rare exceptions, creators are not supported by your purchases. Rather the studios, labels and publishers wh cheat creators are.

    If you want to support the creators, pay them directly, or go to one of their performances / signings / functions. But still pirate their work.

    • empireOfLove2@lemmy.dbzer0.comOP
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      28 days ago

      That’s what I always do. There are smaller creators that I support via donations or patreon but I never pay directly for the content itself.

  • 10_0@lemmy.ml
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    30 days ago

    Oh no! What will the people with offshore bank accounts do without the collective 10 grand they didn’t squeeze? Damn criminals! They’re avoiding taxes by laundering money abroad!

    • SitD@lemy.lol
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      30 days ago

      😎 not to worry, corpo has directed your tax money towards righting this wrong. all will be well soon!

      • turtletracks@lemmy.zip
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        30 days ago

        After the CEO gets back from their super yacht vacation, of course

        (paid for by underpaying employees and wage theft)

        • SitD@lemy.lol
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          29 days ago

          good that the employees are predominantly debating who goes to which toilet ☺️ god forbid they notice the pay inadequacy.

  • pH3ra@lemmy.ml
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    30 days ago

    The FBI is trying to trick me into feeling guilty, too bad I was the firstborn of a single mother and this shit does not work on me anymore