<img attachment="old_books.jpg" align="right">The article <a href="https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/05/judge-on-metas-ai-training-i-just-dont-understand-how-that-can-be-fair-use/" author="Ashley Belanger" source="Ars Technica">Judge on Meta’s AI training: “I just don’t understand how that can be fair use”</a> describes Meta's defense of its having helped itself to about 82TB of copyrighted books from illegal torrents. <bq><b>Meta, like most AI companies, holds that training must be deemed fair use, or else the entire AI industry could face immense setbacks</b>, wasting precious time negotiating data contracts while falling behind global rivals. Meta urged the court to rule that AI training is a transformative use that only references books to create an entirely new work that doesn't replicate authors' ideas or replace books in their markets.</bq> That's a heck of a legal argument, It's reflective of how no-one in power---or their adherents---actually believes in the rule of law anymore. Who needs a proof or trial when you already know someone's guilty? And how can you convict a rich company of wrongdoing when doing so would be economically damaging to them? I can see Meta's lawyer's saying, "Yeah, holy shit, we know that it <i>looks like</i> stealing but that's our whole business model and, like, if <i>we</i> don't steal it, <i>Chinese companies will</i>, and they'll eat our American lunch. So, you see how it would just best for everyone if you would just legalize our business model that is based on stealing? <i>Just for us</i>, of course! Anyone else pirating a film, book, or movie should go to prison <i>forever</i>. Also, no-one else should have any access to all of the content that we're stealing because that would be immoral. Only the already exceedingly rich should have unlimited and free access to everyone else's---the world's---cultural products, but not the <i>Pöbel</i>, not <i>das Lumpenvolk</i>."