French publishers and authors are suing Meta Platforms Inc. for copyright infringement, accusing the tech giant of using their books to train its generative artificial intelligence model without authorization.

  • @General_Effort
    link
    English
    03 hours ago

    I wonder what their argument is. French copyright law governs France. People in the US have no obligation to follow it. Might as well fine people in the UK for driving on the wrong side of the road.

    • @andsens
      link
      English
      103 hours ago

      I was about to correct you before I realized that you must be trolling. In case you are not: Please take your statement and follow it to its natural conclusion. Think about the logical consequences of how things would work if your statement was correct.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          English
          72 hours ago

          Do you really think that’s how the world works?

          If copyright wasn’t international, tons of industries would have died from competition: software, books, movies, shows, etc…

          The French pay to watch American movies and shows, read their books, etc. Why should american AI companies get french stuff for free?

          • @General_Effort
            link
            English
            -141 minutes ago

            Oh wow. That’s not a small misunderstanding.

            Law is basically territorial. French police can arrest people in France. If, say, Russian police tries to arrest someone in France, then it is, at best, a criminal kidnapping and, at worst, an act of war. Extradition hearings are a thing because a country decides on its own terms, by its own laws, whether to hand over people to another jurisdiction.

            Sovereignty is a big deal for countries. If you think about it in terms of kidnapped or armed, uniformed foreigners running around, then you understand why.

            If France were to send out fines to people in the UK for driving on the wrong side of the road, then the UK would refuse to collect them. France could collect fines for something people have done in the UK only if these people pass through France. Obviously, that would cause serious international tension.

            In the same way, if France awards special privileges to its citizens that allow them to collect money from people around the world, other countries would not entertain such demands. What France can do, is make laws that force French residents to pay money to people around the world. That’s how copyright law works.

            There are international treaties on intellectual property. Signatory countries generally agree to have certain minimal standards in their laws. They also agree to treat all nationals equal. So, France couldn’t make special privileges for its citizens. They also agree that their copyright laws only apply in their territories.

            So, I don’t see quite what a French court could be doing here, that would be compatible with international law.

            • @[email protected]
              link
              fedilink
              English
              316 minutes ago

              Dude you’re misunderstanding this.

              The French punishers can sue Facebook in the US for violating their copyright. But since Facebook also operates in France, they can sue them there. It’s that simple.

              Copyright law is pretty powerful and generally global. If you write a book in France in French, I can’t translate and sell it in the US.

              So the punishers can sue in the US but they’d probably not win. Facebook operating in France means it is subject to french laws and can be sued there.

              • @General_Effort
                link
                English
                146 seconds ago

                I guess my post was too long. Yes, France could enforce a judgment against Meta by leaning on the French division of Meta. The question is, on what legal basis this would happen.

                They are suing because of something that happened in the US, right? What argument is there to apply French law?

                That’s not merely politically contentious. It is explicitly against internation law; treaties that France has signed.

          • @Halliphax
            link
            English
            12 hours ago

            I think OPs comment was meant to be read as “I wonder what their argument is:” then everything following that is probably what the US/Meta lawyers would say.

            It’s international law aye but in Trump’s America anything goes.

  • LupusBlackfur
    link
    English
    5716 hours ago

    Good.

    For once, hit 'em with a fine for each and every instance of infringement.

    Not one of those bullshit “all in one” fines either.

    Make it count or it’s meaningless.

  • kreynen
    link
    fedilink
    1714 hours ago

    @[email protected] being threaten with jail time and fines won’t be enough, but the potential punishment needs to be so severe and harasment so relentless they’d consider hanging themselves instead. Aaron Swartz will not be forgotten.

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    English
    1715 hours ago

    Anna Archive should make a deal w DOJ, provide evidence about Meta, free the two zlib admin.

    • @Grimy
      link
      English
      12
      edit-2
      14 hours ago

      The goverment will kill Anna’s archive the moment laws stemming from this lawsuits are passed. It guarantees any new open source initiatives don’t surface once they are all shut down. The big players will be okay though since they can stomach the fines and pay for the data.