Month: March 2023

A judge ruled against Internet Archive, a free online digital library, on Friday in a lawsuit filed by four top publishers who claimed the company was in violation of copyright laws. The publishers, Hachette Book Group, HarperCollins, John Wiley & Sons, and Penguin Random House filed the lawsuit against Internet Archive in 2020, claiming the company had illegally scanned and uploaded 127 of their books for readers to download for free, detracting from their sales and the authors’ royalties.

U.S. District Court Judge John G. Koeltl ruled in favor of the publishing houses in saying that Internet Archive was making “derivative” works by transforming printed books into e-books and distributing them. The digital library’s model also went against standard public libraries which can only lend out the number of books in its collection. Internet Archive was reportedly lending out more digital copies than it was allowed to, although Internet Archive argued that it had every right to lend books under the doctrine of fair use which says “purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright.”

The Authors Guild said in a Twitter post that it supports Koeltl’s decision and said contrary to Internet Archive’s claims, “scanning & lending books w/out permission or compensation is NOT fair use—it is theft & it devalues authors’ works.”

Koeltl’s decision was in part based on the law that libraries are required to pay publishers for continued use of their digital book copies and are only permitted to lend these digital copies a specified number of times, called controlled digital lending, as agreed by the publisher before paying to renew its license.

“Libraries are more than the customer service departments for corporate database products. For democracy to thrive at a global scale, libraries must be able to sustain their historic role in society—owning, preserving, and lending books,” Internet Archive founder Brewster Kahle, said in a statement. He continued, “This ruling is a blow for libraries, readers, and authors and we plan to appeal it.”

However, according to the court ruling, Hachette and Penguin provide one or two-year terms to libraries, in which the eBook can be rented an unlimited number of times before the library has to purchase a new license. HarperCollins allows the library to circulate a digital copy 26 times before the license has to be renewed, while Wiley has continued to experiment with several subscription models.

The judge ruled that because Internet Archive was purchasing the book only once before scanning it and lending each digital copy an unlimited number of times, it is an infringement of copyright and “concerns the way libraries lend eBooks.”

Maria A. Pallante, President and CEO of the Association of American Publishers, said in a statement, “In rejecting arguments that would have pushed fair use to illogical markers, the Court has underscored the importance of authors, publishers, and creative markets in a global society.” She added, “We hope the opinion will prove educational to the defendant and anyone else who finds public laws inconvenient to their own interests.”

Internet Archive plans to appeal the judge’s decision. The online digital library did not immediately respond to Gizmodo’s request for comment.

iPhone users who still use their phone as an actual—you know—phone will soon have the ability to filter out background noise to make those calls clearer, with the coming advent of iOS 16.4 and new implementations for Voice Isolation.

Apple quietly implemented a Voice Isolation feature in FaceTime calls last year, which helped filter out background noise, making voices sound clearer. To activate it, users had to select the feature from a menu in the app’s Control Center. While previously restricted to VOIP (voice over IP) calls, it’s now coming to cellular calls as well.

iOS 16.4 is scheduled for a full release sometime in the next week or so, to coincide with the upcoming Apple Music Classical app. The latest 16.4 RC (release candidate) version was released Tuesday to developers and some select users whose devices are listed as beta testers. Accessing Voice Isolation in calls works similar to how you do it on FaceTime. During a call, users can access the Control Center, tap on the Mic Mode, then choose Voice Isolation from the list of three options. The other option, called “Wide Spectrum,” actually makes listeners hear even more of the background.

Otherwise, iOS is bringing a few more minor improvements, bug fixes, and—perhaps most important for texters—21 new emojis with Unicode 15. Though these were shown off in last year’s emoji slate, this latest release onto Apple devices includes multiple new animals like a moose, a goose, a jellyfish and a donkey.

As for additional features, 16.4 will update phones to include notifications for web apps on the Home Screen and an accessibility setting that automatically dims video when it detects flashes or strobes of light. Photos will also now detect duplicate photos and videos in an iCloud Shared Photo Library.

There’s a few bug fixes as well, including crash detection optimizations on iPhone 14 and 14 Pro devices. The company also said it would fix an issue where Matter-compatible thermostats become unresponsive when paired to an Apple Home device.

Want more of Gizmodo’s consumer electronics picks? Check out our guides to the best phones, best laptops, best cameras, best televisions, and best tablets and eReaders. And if you want to learn about the next big thing, see our guide to everything we know about the iPhone 15.