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The story
It has emerged that Onleihe, the e-book lending service used by public libraries across German-speaking countries, has come under the ownership of the US reading app Libby — and the news has set off a wave of reaction in c/dach, a community on the German-language social network Lemmy. Many users had simply assumed Onleihe was a cooperative run by libraries themselves, so there was plenty of surprise that it had been structured as a corporate acquisition at all. The debate centered on worries that reading and listening history could now end up stored on US servers, alongside the broader view that public services ought to be run on a non-profit basis. Others, though, took it calmly, arguing “in practice nothing much changes” — so opinion ended up split.
So the library e-book app “Onleihe” is now part of Libby. (Cross-posted from feddit.org)
Honestly not thrilled that the library app I’ve relied on is now being run by a US company.
Source: feddit.org / original post here
What people said
I'd still say "borrowing" is a different thing from what you can do with a Kindle, so it's not completely pointless — but yeah, it's a letdown regardless.
That's basically communism! Already reported you 😡
Here's the short version: someone wanted to make more money, so things just got less convenient for you.
It means your reading and listening history is now going to sit on servers in the US, to be processed and put to use 🙂
Background and Key Points of the Debate
Onleihe has long served as the e-book and audiobook lending platform for public libraries across the German-speaking world, with tight integration into dedicated readers like Tolino becoming the norm. Now that it has come under the ownership of the company behind the US reading app Libby, concerns have surfaced that users’ reading and listening histories could end up stored on US servers, fueling unease over data jurisdiction shifting from the EU to the US. The thread split between a calm “in practice, not much will actually change” camp and a more principled objection that public library services should be run on a non-profit basis. One easy misconception worth flagging: several commenters admitted they hadn’t realized Onleihe was anything more than a simple non-profit library consortium in the first place.
*This article excerpts and freely translates the thread “Onleihe jetzt Teil von Libby” from the overseas forum Lemmy c/dach into Japanese, as rendered by our editorial team. Responsibility for the translation rests with this site.
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