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A 'bananas' order for 5000 obscure book titles fuels suspicion
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Overview
Tomás Kenny of Kennys bookshop in Galway received an unusual online order for 5,000 books, featuring a mix of eclectic titles, including high-quality non-fiction and popular guides. Independent booksellers across Europe are expressing concern over the strange nature of large orders like this one.
Summary from irishtimes.com.
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Hacker News · irishtimes.com
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Based on 5 sampled comments from this thread. Analyzed 2026-08-10.
- Praise: If they keep the scans or transcripts, that's likely an improvement on the status quo — more access to lost media could be a game changer.
- Praise: Digitizing these books like Google Books could be an instant good move for companies, helping preserve knowledge in a digital age.
- Praise: Retailers could thrive on this bulk order, even if some titles are outdated — it's a win for stock and sales.
- Concern: Forcing companies to destroy scans after training would be a disaster, leaving potential lost media in the dust.
- Concern: There's a strong suspicion that these orders are part of a shady operation, especially since companies aren't compensating copyright owners.
- Concern: German copyright law complicates everything — scanning books for AI use could land companies in hot water, raising ethical concerns.