Subject: [AUDITORY] Fwd: [Academic] lawsuit regarding AI scraping your work From: Samuel Mehr <sam@xxxxxxxx> Date: Thu, 28 Aug 2025 13:03:59 +1200----==_mimepart_68afaafff2462_4d2013849340 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Hi AUDITORY lists, apologies for cross-posting but please see below for an important US-based lawsuit regarding AI scraping of your work. You do not need to live in the US to indicate to the attorneys involved that you may be a member of the affected class. Sam =E2=80=94=E2=80=94=E2=80=94 Samuel Mehr School of Psychology, University of Auckland and Child Study Center, Yale University Be a citizen scientist at themusiclab.org <https://themusiclab.org/>! ---------- Forwarded message --------- From: Samuel Mehr <sam@xxxxxxxx> Date: Thu, Aug 28, 2025 at 11:59 AM Subject: Fwd: [Academic] lawsuit regarding AI scraping your work To: CDS list <cogdevsoc@xxxxxxxx> > Dear CDS, it's going around on Bluesky already, but for the less- > Online folks, please see below for information regarding a large > class-action suit regarding AI companies using our work to train > LLMs.=C2=A0 > > Most if not all of us will have one or more books or articles in the > LibGen database, and so are eligible to be part of the lawsuit. > > I sent the below email to my department but if you'd like to spread > the word to yours, please feel free to steal my text and adapt it > however you like. > > best from NZ, > Sam > > =E2=80=94=E2=80=94=E2=80=94 > Samuel Mehr > School of Psychology, University of Auckland > and Child Study Center, Yale University > Be a citizen scientist at themusiclab.org <https://themusiclab.org/>! > > ---------- Forwarded message --------- > From: Samuel Mehr <sam@xxxxxxxx> > Date: Thu, Aug 28, 2025 at 11:53 AM > Subject: [Academic] lawsuit regarding AI scraping your work > To: psych-academic Mailing List <psych-academic@xxxxxxxx> > > > Hi all, a high-profile law firm in the US, Lieff Cabraser, is > > leading a class-action lawsuit against AI firm Anthropic for > > scraping the database LibGen to train their models, without asking > > permission of the people who produced the books, articles, and other > > content that is in LibGen. > > > > LibGen contains so much academic work that your papers and/or books > > are probably in it, even if you've never heard of the database. You > > can check if your work is involved by searching your name at this > > handy tool at the Atlantic: > > <https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2025/03/search- > > libgen-data-set/682094/>. Use all alternative spellings of your name > > to find all matches (I found some with Samuel A Mehr and some with > > SA Mehr). > > > > If your work was included in LibGen at the time Anthropic scraped > > the database, and if your publisher is subject to US copyright law > > (this covers most work published in most academic journals), you can > > be a member of the class action suit. All you need to do is submit > > your name and article/book information at the attorneys' website: > > <https://www.lieffcabraser.com/anthropic-author-contact/>. For > > people without US addresses, like most of us in the department here, > > you can put the address of the associated publisher; just google > > "Elsevier NYC" or similar to find it. > > > > Lieff Cabraser is a serious firm who has successfully taken on the > > likes of Apple, Google, and Adobe in trust-busting cases and this > > case is likely to be the largest in history concerning intellectual > > property and artificial intelligence. Not only does this mean it's > > important in its own right but it also means that it's likely > > affected authors (including many of us) will get paid a bit of $ > > if/when it settles, so there's a nice incentive too. > > > > Please have a look at the database, consider signing up, and feel > > free to forward this email around. The more academics who get on the > > attorneys' list, the larger the impact of the class-action and the > > more likely it is that AI companies will be pressured to stop > > stealing our work. > > > > Sam > > > > =E2=80=94=E2=80=94=E2=80=94 > > Samuel Mehr > > School of Psychology, University of Auckland > > and Child Study Center, Yale University > > Be a citizen scientist at themusiclab.org > > <https://themusiclab.org/>! > ----==_mimepart_68afaafff2462_4d2013849340 Content-Type: text/html; charset=UTF-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable <!DOCTYPE html> <html> <head> <meta charset=3D"utf-8"> <meta http-equiv=3D"Content-Type" content=3D"text/html; charset=3Dutf= -8" /> <meta name=3D"viewport" id=3D"viewport" content=3D"width=3Ddevice-wid= th,minimum-scale=3D1.0,maximum-scale=3D10.0,initial-scale=3D1.0" /> <style> html { -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; -ms-text-size-adjust: 100%; } h1 { font-size: 1.3em; line-height: 1.2; margin: 0; } ul, ol { margin: 0; padding: 0; } ul li, ol li, li li { margin: 0 0 0 36px; } [dir=3Drtl] li { margin: 0 18px 0 0; } blockquote { border-color: #dfdee1; /* --color--border */ border-style: solid; border-width: 0 0 0 1px; margin: 0; padding: 0 0 0 1em; } [dir=3Drtl] blockquote, blockquote[dir=3Drtl] { border-width: 0 1px 0 0; padding: 0 1em 0 0; } pre { font-family: "SFMono-Regular", Consolas, "Liberation Mono", Menlo, Cour= ier, monospace; /* --font-family--mono */ font-size: 0.9em; margin: 0; padding: 1rem; background-color: #f3f1ef; /* --color-bg--surface */ white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word; overflow: visible; } .message-content { font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, Aptos, Roboto, "Segoe U= I", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", = "Segoe UI Symbol"; /* --font-family */ line-height: 1.4; } .attachment { display: inline-block; margin: 0; padding: 0; } .attachment__caption { padding: 0; text-align: center; } .attachment__caption a[href] { text-decoration: none; color: #333333; } .attachment--preview { width: 100%; text-align: center; margin: 0.625em 0; } .attachment--preview img { border: 1px solid #dfdee1; /* --color--border */ vertical-align: middle; width: auto; max-width: 100%; max-height: 640px; } .attachment--preview .attachment__caption { color: #716d7b; /* --color-txt--subtle */ font-size: 0.85em; margin-top: 0.625em; } .attachment--file { color: #282138; /* --color-txt */ line-height: 1; margin: 0 2px 2px 0; padding: 0.4em 1em; border: 1px solid #dfdee1; /* --color--border */ border-radius: 5px; } .permalink { color: inherit; } .txt--subtle { color: #716d7b; /* --color-txt--subtle */ } .txt--xx-small { font-size: 14px; } .flush { margin: 0; padding: 0; } .push--bottom { margin-bottom: 8px; } .border--top { border-top: 1px solid #ECE9E6; /* --color-border--solid */ } .btn { padding: 0.2em 0.4em; font-weight: 500; text-decoration: none; border-radius: 3rem; white-space: nowrap; background: #5522FA; /* --color-tertiary */ border-color: #5522FA; color: #ffffff; } .btn--email { display: inline-block; text-align: center; font-weight: 500; font-size: 1em; text-decoration: none; border-radius: 2em; white-space: nowrap; background: #5522FA; /* --color-tertiary */ border-color: #5522FA; color: #ffffff; border-top: 0.3em solid #5522FA; border-left: 1em solid #5522FA; border-bottom: 0.3em solid #5522FA; border-right: 1em solid #5522FA; } .shaded { padding: 1em; border-radius: 4px; background-color: #f6f5f3; /* --color-bg--surface */ border: 1px solid #dfdee1; /* --color--border */ } .shaded--blue { background-color: rgba(80, 162, 255, 0.2); /* --rgb-blue 0.2 */ } .shaded--red { background-color: rgba(255, 120, 120, 0.2); /* --rgb-red 0.2 */ } .strikethrough { text-decoration: line-through; } </style> </head> <body> <div class=3D"message-content"> <div class=3D"trix-content"> <div>Hi AUDITORY lists, apologies for cross-posting but please see belo= w for an important US-based lawsuit regarding AI scraping of your work. Y= ou do not need to live in the US to indicate to the attorneys involved th= at you may be a member of the affected class.<br><br>Sam<br><br></div><di= v>=E2=80=94=E2=80=94=E2=80=94<br>Samuel Mehr<br>School of Psychology, Uni= versity of Auckland<br>and Child Study Center, Yale University<br><strong= >Be a citizen scientist at </strong><a href=3D"https://themusiclab.org/">= <strong>themusiclab.org</strong></a><strong>!</strong></div><div><br><br>= </div><div>---------- Forwarded message ---------</div><div>From: Samuel = Mehr <sam@xxxxxxxx></div><div>Date: Thu, Aug 28, 2025 at 11:5= 9 AM</div><div>Subject: Fwd: [Academic] lawsuit regarding AI scraping you= r work</div><div>To: CDS list <cogdevsoc@xxxxxxxx></div>= <div><br></div><blockquote><div>Dear CDS, it's going around on Bluesk= y already, but for the less-Online folks, please see below for informatio= n regarding a large class-action suit regarding AI companies using our wo= rk to train LLMs.=C2=A0<br><br>Most if not all of us will have one or mor= e books or articles in the LibGen database, and so are eligible to be par= t of the lawsuit.<br><br>I sent the below email to my department but if y= ou'd like to spread the word to yours, please feel free to steal my t= ext and adapt it however you like.<br><br>best from NZ,<br>Sam<br><br></d= iv><div>=E2=80=94=E2=80=94=E2=80=94<br>Samuel Mehr<br>School of Psycholog= y, University of Auckland<br>and Child Study Center, Yale University<br><= strong>Be a citizen scientist at </strong><a href=3D"https://themusiclab.= org/"><strong>themusiclab.org</strong></a><strong>!</strong></div><div><b= r><br></div><div>---------- Forwarded message ---------</div><div>From: S= amuel Mehr <sam@xxxxxxxx></div><div>Date: Thu, Aug 28, 2025 a= t 11:53 AM</div><div>Subject: [Academic] lawsuit regarding AI scraping yo= ur work</div><div>To: psych-academic Mailing List <psych-academic@xxxxxxxx= .auckland.ac.nz></div><div><br></div><blockquote><style> html { -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; -ms-text-size-adjust: 100%; } h1 { font-size: 1.3em; line-height: 1.2; margin: 0; } ul, ol { margin: 0; padding: 0; } ul li, ol li, li li { margin: 0 0 0 36px; } [dir=3Drtl] li { margin: 0 18px 0 0; } blockquote { border-color: #dfdee1; /* --color--border */ border-style: solid; border-width: 0 0 0 1px; margin: 0; padding: 0 0 0 1em; } [dir=3Drtl] blockquote, blockquote[dir=3Drtl] { border-width: 0 1px 0 0; padding: 0 1em 0 0; } pre { font-family: "SFMono-Regular", Consolas, "Liberation Mono", Menlo, Cour= ier, monospace; /* --font-family--mono */ font-size: 0.9em; margin: 0; padding: 1rem; background-color: #f3f1ef; /* --color-bg--surface */ white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word; overflow: visible; } .message-content { font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, Aptos, Roboto, "Segoe U= I", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", = "Segoe UI Symbol"; /* --font-family */ line-height: 1.4; } .attachment { display: inline-block; margin: 0; padding: 0; } .attachment__caption { padding: 0; text-align: center; } .attachment__caption a[href] { text-decoration: none; color: #333333; } .attachment--preview { width: 100%; text-align: center; margin: 0.625em 0; } .attachment--preview img { border: 1px solid #dfdee1; /* --color--border */ vertical-align: middle; width: auto; max-width: 100%; max-height: 640px; } .attachment--preview .attachment__caption { color: #716d7b; /* --color-txt--subtle */ font-size: 0.85em; margin-top: 0.625em; } .attachment--file { color: #282138; /* --color-txt */ line-height: 1; margin: 0 2px 2px 0; padding: 0.4em 1em; border: 1px solid #dfdee1; /* --color--border */ border-radius: 5px; } .permalink { color: inherit; } .txt--subtle { color: #716d7b; /* --color-txt--subtle */ } .txt--xx-small { font-size: 14px; } .flush { margin: 0; padding: 0; } .push--bottom { margin-bottom: 8px; } .border--top { border-top: 1px solid #ECE9E6; /* --color-border--solid */ } .btn { padding: 0.2em 0.4em; font-weight: 500; text-decoration: none; border-radius: 3rem; white-space: nowrap; background: #5522FA; /* --color-tertiary */ border-color: #5522FA; color: #ffffff; } .btn--email { display: inline-block; text-align: center; font-weight: 500; font-size: 1em; text-decoration: none; border-radius: 2em; white-space: nowrap; background: #5522FA; /* --color-tertiary */ border-color: #5522FA; color: #ffffff; border-top: 0.3em solid #5522FA; border-left: 1em solid #5522FA; border-bottom: 0.3em solid #5522FA; border-right: 1em solid #5522FA; } .shaded { padding: 1em; border-radius: 4px; background-color: #f6f5f3; /* --color-bg--surface */ border: 1px solid #dfdee1; /* --color--border */ } .shaded--blue { background-color: rgba(80, 162, 255, 0.2); /* --rgb-blue 0.2 */ } .shaded--red { background-color: rgba(255, 120, 120, 0.2); /* --rgb-red 0.2 */ } .strikethrough { text-decoration: line-through; } </style><div class=3D"__body-layout __body_add50653ce0f"> <div class=3D"message-content"> <div class=3D"trix-content"> <div>Hi all, a high-profile law firm in the US, Lieff Cabraser, is lead= ing a class-action lawsuit against AI firm Anthropic for scraping the dat= abase LibGen to train their models, without asking permission of the peop= le who produced the books, articles, and other content that is in LibGen.= <br><br>LibGen contains so much academic work that your papers and/or bo= oks are probably in it, even if you've never heard of the database. Y= ou can check if your work is involved by searching your name at this hand= y tool at the Atlantic: <a href=3D"https://www.theatlantic.com/technology= /archive/2025/03/search-libgen-data-set/682094/">https://www.theatlantic.= com/technology/archive/2025/03/search-libgen-data-set/682094/</a>. Use al= l alternative spellings of your name to find all matches (I found some wi= th Samuel A Mehr and some with SA Mehr).<br><br>If your work was included= in LibGen at the time Anthropic scraped the database, and if your publis= her is subject to US copyright law (this covers most work published in mo= st academic journals), you can be a member of the class action suit. All = you need to do is submit your name and article/book information at the at= torneys' website: <a href=3D"https://www.lieffcabraser.com/anthropic-= author-contact/">https://www.lieffcabraser.com/anthropic-author-contact/<= /a>. For people without US addresses, like most of us in the department h= ere, you can put the address of the associated publisher; just google &qu= ot;Elsevier NYC" or similar to find it.<br><br>Lieff Cabraser is a s= erious firm who has successfully taken on the likes of Apple, Google, and= Adobe in trust-busting cases and this case is likely to be the largest i= n history concerning intellectual property and artificial intelligence. N= ot only does this mean it's important in its own right but it also me= ans that it's likely affected authors (including many of us) will get= paid a bit of $ if/when it settles, so there's a nice incentive too.= <br><br>Please have a look at the database, consider signing up, and feel= free to forward this email around. The more academics who get on the att= orneys' list, the larger the impact of the class-action and the more = likely it is that AI companies will be pressured to stop stealing our wor= k.<br><br>Sam<br><br></div><div>=E2=80=94=E2=80=94=E2=80=94<br>Samuel Meh= r<br>School of Psychology, University of Auckland<br>and Child Study Cent= er, Yale University<br><strong>Be a citizen scientist at </strong><a href= =3D"https://themusiclab.org/"><strong>themusiclab.org</strong></a><strong= >!</strong></div> </div> </div> = </div></blockquote></blockquote> </div> </div> </body> </html> ----==_mimepart_68afaafff2462_4d2013849340--