{"slug": "amazon-scans-and-destroys-books-to-comply-with-copyright-law", "title": "Amazon scans and destroys books to comply with copyright law", "summary": "Amazon is scanning and destroying rare books to comply with copyright law, according to a post by Steve Klabnik responding to a 404 Media report. Klabnik argues the reporting fails to acknowledge that Amazon's actions are legally mandated, not an attempt to break the law.", "body_md": "This is a heavily interactive web application, and JavaScript is required. Simple HTML interfaces are possible, but that is not what this is.\n\n### Post\n\nSteve Klabnik\n\nsteveklabnik.com\n\ndid:plc:3danwc67lo7obz2fmdg6jxcr\n\n@simonwillison.net re: https://simonwillison.net/2026/Aug/17/we-tracked-a-shipment-of-rare-books-it-ended-at-an-amazon-ai-tra/ I'm not sure I agree that it's an \"Excellent piece of reporting from 404 Media.\" when it does not engage at all with the publicly known reasons *why* they are doing this, and that it's specifically to comply with the law, not break it\n\n2026-08-18T15:23:48.075Z", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/amazon-scans-and-destroys-books-to-comply-with-copyright-law", "canonical_source": "https://bsky.app/profile/steveklabnik.com/post/3mtejjs6s2c2y", "published_at": "2026-08-19 01:40:19+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-08-19 02:10:52.499518+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["ai-policy"], "entities": ["Amazon", "Steve Klabnik", "404 Media"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/amazon-scans-and-destroys-books-to-comply-with-copyright-law", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/amazon-scans-and-destroys-books-to-comply-with-copyright-law.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/amazon-scans-and-destroys-books-to-comply-with-copyright-law.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/amazon-scans-and-destroys-books-to-comply-with-copyright-law.jsonld"}}