What archive.org backs up is already public content ? not paid one. There are exceptions (books and videos) but I assume they are negotiated with rights owners. Did what.cd do this too ? I don't know how they operate, I only heard about them last week.
What archive.org backs up is already public content ? not paid one.
Legally, that's irrelevant (except maybe for calculating damages). Publicly available content is just as copyrighted, and paid content may be in the public domain (e.g. printed copies of Oliver Twist).
Barring an explicit license, one can't copy any content on any website, except for simply displaying it (there's an implicit license). And you certainly can't re-distribute it.
There are exceptions (books and videos) but I assume they are negotiated with rights owners.
Why do you assume that, when anyone can upload them?
I assume that because archive.org is a massive open public fucking website, not a closeted circle like what.cd, requiring invitations to even log in apparently.
I'll also assume that it's as easy to upload copyrighted material than it is to remove them for the rights owner.
You're totally right about the license of publicly available content. I handwaved over it, assuming that people still wouldn't mind backup by a tier as long as it doesn't damage them (and again I'll assume archive.org accepts removal when demanded... which I'm gonna check right now).
