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Comment by galangalalgol | Hacker News Reader

So can they host the Gutenberg project in NZ then? There is no feasible way for people to prevent people from downloading the hobbit. They couldn't stop music or movie downloads except by adopting a subscription model that effectively reduced the prices. These files are tiny and the ethical case against it is so much harder to make.

Edit: also, these are the sorts of books that don't get lumped into subscriptions and are often missing from digital libraries.

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> So can they host the Gutenberg project in NZ then?

There is already an Australian branch of Project Gutenberg, which hosts some works which (for complex/obscure legal reasons) are still under copyright in the US but now public domain in Australia (e.g. the works of George Orwell). I don’t think there is a New Zealand equivalent, but I’m sure if someone was sufficiently motivated it could happen

https://gutenberg.net.au/

They can, but they'd have to make those downloads only available to NZ users. This is also why American sites need to block EU users or comply with the GDPR. You can't just pick a server location with the laxest laws.

IIRC, Gutenberg already does this, limiting access from Germany which has a stricter copyright than the US.

Does Gutenberg block access or does Germany? If gutenberg NZ had no presence outside NZ would it even matter?

And even if it was blocked, vpn works fine.

Just checked and the AU site lets me access things I shouldn't where I am, so they clearly aren't that concerned.

No, there is no requirement under US law to preemptively block non-US users, or under NZ law to block non-NZ users. German courts held that there was jurisdiction over PG because they had content in German, and PG decided to comply. But you can, in fact, pick a server location with lax laws. But you may be susceptible to get sued elsewhere (in some cases), and the local country can force ISPs to block your site, too, if you don't respond.

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