Investigation: Amazon is buying huge quantities of rare books, scanning them for AI, and destroying them; a tracked Biblio order went to its Las Vegas facility (Emanuel Maiberg/404 Media) | SpinGraph: None
SpinGraph analysis of Techmeme's Investigation: Amazon is buying huge quantities of rare books, scanning them for AI, and destroying them; a tracked Biblio ord…
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Investigation: Amazon is buying huge quantities of rare books, scanning them for AI, and destroying them; a tracked Biblio order went to its Las Vegas facility (Emanuel Maiberg/404 Media)
book scanning, AI training data, cultural destruction, copyright, Biblio
Amazon purchased rare books via Biblio and shipped them to a Las Vegas facility Reporters embedded a tracker in one shipment and confirmed delivery to Amazon Books were scanned and destroyed — no public disclosure, consent, or compensation to rights holders
Emphasizes observable physical evidence while minimizing interpretive framing — but omits institutional context, intent, and systemic patterns, making it harder to assess whether this is isolated, sanctioned, or scalable practice.
Investigative documentation — positions itself as neutral evidence-gathering rather than advocacy or accusation.
Amazon scanned and destroyed rare books for AI training.
Amazon's stated data sourcing policies; Whether any books were digitized for public access or archival preservation; Legal basis for destruction after scanning; Scale relative to Amazon's overall book acquisition
The story redirects attention toward process, intent, scale, mission, or future benefits instead of unresolved concerns. Watch for loaded terms such as destroying, rare books, scanning for AI. The distribution reads as editorial reporting. A pressure point: Amazon's stated data sourcing policies.
Amazon bought rare books from Biblio, shipped them to its Las Vegas facility, scanned them for AI, and destroyed them.
We placed a tracking device in a shipment of rare books to see which AI company was buying it, and found an Amazon facility where Amazon scans and destroys books.
Extracted statistics from the source narrative
Single verified physical shipment with GPS tracker
Geolocated Amazon logistics site used for scanning