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Project Gutenberg Public Domain Library Blocked in Italy for Copyright Infringement

posted by martyb on Thursday June 04 2020, @09:56PM   Printer-friendly
from the Project-Gutenberg-sind-nicht-seht-gut? dept.

takyon writes:

Project Gutenberg Public Domain Library Blocked in Italy For Copyright Infringement:

Project Gutenberg, a volunteer effort to digitize and archive books, is sometimes described as the world’s oldest digital library.

Founded in 1971, Project Gutenberg‘s archives now stretch to a total of more than 62,000 books, with a focus on titles that entered the public domain after their copyrights expired. The library does carry some and in-copyright books but these are distributed with the express permission of their owners.

The project has an excellent reputation and its work is considered a great contribution to education and culture. However, it now transpires that the site has been rendered inaccessible by ISPs in Italy under the instructions of the Public Prosecutor at the Court of Rome.

[...] The seizure/blocking notice states that all of the targeted domains “distributed, transmitted and disseminated in pdf format, magazines, newspapers and books (property protected by copyright) after having illegally acquired numerous computer files with their content, communicating them to the public, [and] entering them into a system of communication networks.”

[...] “The investigation, conducted by a special unit of the Guardia di Finanza, has been developed in the context of monitoring the targeted Internet networks to combat economic and financial offenses perpetrated online.

“In this context, the operators identified some web resources registered on foreign servers which make content and magazines available to the public early in the morning, allowing users to view or download digital copies,” the court document reads. (translated from Italian)

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  • (Score: 4, Informative) by MostCynical on Thursday June 04 2020, @11:01PM (3 children)

    by MostCynical (2589) on Thursday June 04 2020, @11:01PM (#1003420) Journal

    from WIkipedea [wikipedia.org]

    In the author-centric Italian copyright law, moral rights are eternal, non-transferable, and inalienable. The author, even after transfer of economic rights, retains the right to claim authorship and to oppose mutilation of the work or any act that would be prejudicial to her honour or reputation (Arts. 20, 22). Upon the death of the author, these rights may be relied upon by her family and descendants (Art. 23).

    and

    The duration of economic rights for most works and for photographs in Italian law is 70 years from the death of the author (Art. 28). Where there are multiple authors, and for cinematographic works, the economic rights expire 70 years after the death of the last surviving author

    so - yes, and no... look like someone has gone hunting. Great Firewall of Italy, here we come?

    --
    "I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
    Starting Score:    1  point
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    Total Score:   4  

  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by Bot on Thursday June 04 2020, @11:10PM (2 children)

    by Bot (3902) on Thursday June 04 2020, @11:10PM (#1003425) Journal

    They have already started. Three news orgs, byoblu, radio radio and socialtv have already set up alternatives to YouTube as they are being targeted.
    Apparently criticizing, sorry I mean describing, Islam, is the surest way to get in trouble. Those Emirates must be paying well.

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    Account abandoned.

    • (Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 04 2020, @11:13PM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 04 2020, @11:13PM (#1003428)

      (((Allah Akbar))) infidel Bot.

      • (Score: 2) by Bot on Friday June 05 2020, @10:19AM

        by Bot (3902) on Friday June 05 2020, @10:19AM (#1003657) Journal

        Mod you up because you jewechoed the term, giving credit to the Saudi bosses are jew conspiracy. Next time use the proper double parentheses instead of the triple ones.

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        Account abandoned.