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Poster: jonc Date: Apr 8, 2011 1:49pm
Forum: moviesandfilms Subject: Re: Incomplete movies--sabotage?

> (I have also noticed, though less systematically, that
> some books which used to be freely downloadable via
> Internet Archives no longer are--always Google PDFs--but
> that now retail downloads are available from some
> companies.)

For Google books, switch to the directory view (HTTP on the left) and download the PDF directly from there.

There's no reason people can't resell public domain works. The copyrights have expired and they can be used in any way the person or company wishes. If they're charging people a fee just to download books that are otherwise free, people are being ripped off, but it's legal.

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Poster: profraha Date: Apr 8, 2011 8:04pm
Forum: moviesandfilms Subject: Re: Incomplete movies--sabotage?

Thanks for the suggestion; I'll try the http route.

As for the books, I agree that people can repurpose them, for fun or profit, if they are in the public domain--perhaps especially Google, which converted them in the first place. But it is a little annoying, all the same, when they are made freely available, and then the access is withdrawn, and even searching is restricted or denied.

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Poster: jonc Date: Apr 9, 2011 12:07pm
Forum: moviesandfilms Subject: Re: Incomplete movies--sabotage?

Are there any particular books? Posting in the texts forum might get you an explanation why they were removed.

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Poster: profraha Date: Apr 9, 2011 12:19pm
Forum: moviesandfilms Subject: Re: Incomplete movies--sabotage?

There are lots, but I haven't tried to chart them at all, since I can usually find the books in other editions available somewhere, or I lose interest and find something similar. But, for instance, I just did a quick search on Internet Archive, found "John Dewey's logical theory," which one can still read online, or access in other ways, but if you go to the Google PDF, it is not available for download (I assume it was once, or it wouldn't be on Internet Archive), and is only searchable via "snippet view," which is not very helpful. Again, this is not a major problem. I'm just worried that it is the beginning of a trend, and that fewer and fewer public domain pdfs will be available.