In a just world, the management team that decided to risk the future of the Wayback machine so that they could take advantage of a global pandemic to strike a blow against copyright would go to jail. They must be stopped and prevented from doing more damage to IA!
Why is knowledge artificially limited by all these paywalls and people holding literature and books hostage to their financial interest? What is better a world where a poor kid can read any book ever published or a world where you can only read the books that you can afford. Most technical books are expensive.
When I was a kid I depended on public libraries to learn about computers. I know college students who simply can't afford textbooks, so they pirate them. But that enabled me to find a career that lifted me out of the rural community I grew up in. Now I buy every book I read, on paper, and pay for expensive software.
Digital lending and the National Emergency Library would never have appealed to me. It doesn't reduce sales of books, because those who can buy, will. I'd much rather support the author and have a physical artifact in my hands than an inconvenient digital scan. But for anyone not in that position, the NEL could be a lifesaver to ride out the pandemic.
IA made the right call morally and ethically. It's only the parasites of society who would tear them down for helping disadvantaged people out during an unprecedented planet-wide crisis, because their actions help the disadvantaged without harming the market potential of authors.
