{
  "version": 2,
  "last_updated": "2026-07-29",
  "description": "Books confirmed or suspected to have been targeted by AI companies for destructive scanning. Sourced from court filings, investigative journalism, and bookseller reports.",
  "sources": [
    {
      "id": "wapo-panama",
      "name": "Washington Post - Inside an AI start-up's plan to scan and dispose of millions of books",
      "url": "https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2026/01/27/anthropic-ai-scan-destroy-books/",
      "date": "2026-01-27"
    },
    {
      "id": "nltimes-2077ai",
      "name": "NL Times - Rare book dealers fear tech firms destroying editions",
      "url": "https://nltimes.nl/2026/06/25/rare-book-dealers-fear-tech-firms-destroying-obscure-editions-train-ai-models",
      "date": "2026-06-25"
    },
    {
      "id": "tagesschau-zoom",
      "name": "Tagesschau/NDR - KI-Firmen kaufen offenbar Antiquariate leer",
      "url": "https://www.tagesschau.de/kultur/ki-firmen-antiquarische-buecher-100.html",
      "date": "2026-07-08"
    },
    {
      "id": "bnr-nl",
      "name": "BNR - Dutch booksellers alarm over AI book buying",
      "url": "https://www.bnr.nl/nieuws/tech-innovatie/10604219/tweedehandsboekverkopers-slaan-alarm-ai-bedrijven-kopen-obscure-boeken-op-om-te-versnipperen",
      "date": "2026-06-25"
    },
    {
      "id": "futurism-panama",
      "name": "Futurism - Anthropic Knew the Public Would Be Disgusted by How It Was Destroying Physical Books",
      "url": "https://futurism.com/future-society/anthropic-destroying-books",
      "date": "2026-01-28"
    },
    {
      "id": "lithub-panama",
      "name": "Literary Hub - Anthropic didn't want us to know they were destroying millions of books",
      "url": "https://lithub.com/anthropic-didnt-want-us-to-know-that-they-were-destroying-millions-of-books-to-feed-their-software/",
      "date": "2026-02-25"
    },
    {
      "id": "tobiasreithmeier",
      "name": "Tobias Reithmeier - Project Panama: Why an AI Company Cut Apart Millions of Books",
      "url": "https://www.tobiasreithmeier.de/en/blog/project-panama-anthropic-books",
      "date": "2026-07-14"
    },
    {
      "id": "taz-zoom",
      "name": "taz - Künstliche Intelligenz: Kaufen, scannen, füttern",
      "url": "https://taz.de/Kuenstliche-Intelligenz/!6186606/",
      "date": "2026-07-10"
    },
    {
      "id": "reddit-zoom",
      "name": "Reddit r/books - Zoom Books buys and destroys thousands of old books",
      "url": "https://www.reddit.com/r/books/comments/1tot1de/zoom_books_buys_and_destroys_thousands_of_old/",
      "date": "2026"
    },
    {
      "id": "toi-panama",
      "name": "Times of India - Inside Project Panama: 2 million books scanned and destroyed",
      "url": "https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/etimes/trending/inside-project-panama-2-million-books-scanned-and-destroyed-by-anthropic-ai-to-train-machines/articleshow/127870832.cms",
      "date": "2026-02-03"
    }
  ],
  "operations": [
    {
      "id": "project-panama",
      "name": "Project Panama",
      "company": "Anthropic",
      "method": "Destructive scanning - hydraulic cutting machines sever spines, high-speed scanners digitize pages, paper recycled. Led by Tom Turvey (ex-Google Books). Internal doc: 'We don't want it to be known that we are working on this.'",
      "scale": "500,000 to 2,000,000 books over six months",
      "cost": "Tens of millions of dollars in book purchases",
      "settlement": "$1.5 billion (for pirated LibGen downloads, not the physical book purchases)",
      "legal_basis": "U.S. fair use ruling - buying and destructively scanning purchased books deemed transformative use",
      "period": "Early 2024 onwards",
      "sources": ["wapo-panama", "futurism-panama", "lithub-panama", "tobiasreithmeier", "toi-panama"]
    },
    {
      "id": "2077ai-europe",
      "name": "2077AI European Book Buyout",
      "company": "2077AI (Singapore)",
      "method": "Bulk ISBN-based purchase lists emailed to European antiquarian booksellers. Lists contain 3,000+ titles organized by ISBN. Contact person identified as 'Nataly'.",
      "scale": "3,000+ titles per order, multiple booksellers contacted across Netherlands, Switzerland, Spain, Germany",
      "period": "2026",
      "sources": ["nltimes-2077ai", "bnr-nl"]
    },
    {
      "id": "zoom-books-europe",
      "name": "Zoom Books Bulk Orders",
      "company": "Zoom Books (Canada, self-described as 'North America's leading book recycling company')",
      "method": "Automated overnight orders (2-5 AM) through ABE Books platform, targeting obscure specialist titles. Orders come in rapid succession, pre-paid. Zoom Books denies digitizing/destroying books but refuses to name buyers.",
      "scale": "Up to 1,000+ titles per dealer, mid-five-figure Euro spending per dealer",
      "shipping": "Initially to Canada/USA logistics centers, later redirected to Kodersdorf, Saxony, Germany",
      "period": "Late April 2026 onwards (first orders ~April 30)",
      "countries_reported": ["Germany", "Switzerland", "Bulgaria", "United Kingdom", "New Zealand"],
      "sources": ["tagesschau-zoom", "taz-zoom", "reddit-zoom"]
    },
    {
      "id": "meta-libgen",
      "name": "Meta LibGen Downloads",
      "company": "Meta",
      "method": "Employees downloaded millions of copyrighted books from shadow library LibGen. Internal message: 'Torrenting from a corporate laptop doesn't feel right.'",
      "scale": "Millions of books",
      "period": "2023 onwards",
      "sources": ["futurism-panama", "lithub-panama"]
    },
    {
      "id": "anthropic-libgen",
      "name": "Anthropic LibGen Downloads",
      "company": "Anthropic",
      "method": "Co-founder Ben Mann downloaded millions of books from LibGen in 2021. In 2022, praised Pirate Library Mirror launch ('just in time!!!'). Company denies using pirated books for commercial models.",
      "scale": "Millions of books",
      "period": "2021-2022",
      "settlement": "$1.5 billion (this is what the settlement actually covered)",
      "sources": ["futurism-panama", "wapo-panama"]
    }
  ],
  "books": [
    {
      "id": 1,
      "title": "Distinct Element Modelling in Geomechanics",
      "author": "K.R. Saxena",
      "year": 1999,
      "isbn": null,
      "language": "English",
      "category": "Engineering / Geomechanics",
      "targeted_by": "2077ai-europe",
      "status": "targeted",
      "open_library": "https://openlibrary.org/works/OL12290618W",
      "full_text_available": false,
      "internet_archive": null,
      "project_gutenberg": null,
      "notes": "Named in 2077AI's 3,000-title ISBN list sent to Dutch bookseller De Vries & De Vries in Haarlem. Cataloged on Open Library (4 editions) but no ebook or full text exists anywhere online."
    },
    {
      "id": 2,
      "title": "Barrett's Traditional Fairy Tales",
      "author": "Sippor / Beatrice Stewart",
      "year": 2021,
      "isbn": null,
      "language": "English",
      "category": "Folklore / Irish Studies",
      "targeted_by": "2077ai-europe",
      "status": "targeted",
      "open_library": "https://openlibrary.org/works/OL34026938W",
      "full_text_available": false,
      "internet_archive": null,
      "project_gutenberg": null,
      "notes": "Named in 2077AI list. Academic study of Irish folklore. Single edition cataloged, no digital copy exists."
    },
    {
      "id": 3,
      "title": "Laser Shock Peening of Advanced Ceramics",
      "author": "Pratik Shukla, J.R. Lawrence",
      "year": 2018,
      "isbn": null,
      "language": "English",
      "category": "Materials Science",
      "targeted_by": "2077ai-europe",
      "status": "targeted",
      "open_library": "https://openlibrary.org/works/OL26746400W",
      "full_text_available": false,
      "internet_archive": null,
      "project_gutenberg": null,
      "notes": "Named in 2077AI list. Specialist materials science text. Single edition, no digital version available."
    },
    {
      "id": 4,
      "title": "Fernsehen in Jugend- und Kinderheimen (Television Education in Youth and Children's Homes)",
      "author": "Unknown",
      "year": 1970,
      "isbn": null,
      "language": "German",
      "category": "Education / Social Sciences",
      "targeted_by": "zoom-books-europe",
      "status": "targeted",
      "open_library": null,
      "full_text_available": false,
      "internet_archive": null,
      "project_gutenberg": null,
      "notes": "Mentioned by Berlin antiquarian bookseller Urban Zerfaß in taz interview. Described as a 1970s study of television education in youth/children's homes. Purchased by Zoom Books, shipped to Kodersdorf, Saxony. Zerfaß noted: 'These things are no longer current and don't reflect the state of science.'"
    },
    {
      "id": 5,
      "title": "Der Kleine Drache Kokosnuss auf dem Mars (The Little Dragon Coconut on Mars)",
      "author": "Ingo Siegner",
      "year": 2016,
      "isbn": null,
      "language": "German",
      "category": "Children's Literature",
      "targeted_by": "meta-libgen",
      "status": "confirmed-ingested",
      "open_library": null,
      "full_text_available": false,
      "internet_archive": null,
      "project_gutenberg": null,
      "notes": "OpenAI's AI was able to reproduce this children's book almost exactly from a simple prompt, confirming it was in training data. Penguin Random House filed a lawsuit over this. Mentioned in Tagesschau and BR reporting."
    }
  ],
  "at_risk_profile": {
    "description": "Based on confirmed targeting patterns, these are the characteristics of books most likely to be targeted next:",
    "characteristics": [
      "Specialist academic or technical monographs with small print runs",
      "Books published 1960-2020 that were never digitized",
      "Non-English language scholarly works (German, Dutch, French, Spanish especially sought after)",
      "Niche subjects: literary criticism, regional history, specialized engineering, obscure folklore",
      "Titles described as 'shelf warmers' - books that sit unsold for years in antiquarian shops",
      "Books with few remaining physical copies and no digital presence",
      "Titles available through ABE Books or similar online antiquarian platforms"
    ],
    "red_flags_for_sellers": [
      "Bulk orders arriving overnight (2-5 AM)",
      "Orders placed by companies rather than individuals",
      "Seemingly random mix of unrelated specialist titles",
      "Shipping costs far exceeding book prices",
      "Orders routed through ABE Books or similar platforms",
      "Delivery addresses in Canada, USA, or logistics hubs in Eastern Germany (Kodersdorf, Saxony)",
      "Pre-paid orders with no questions asked about condition"
    ]
  },
  "stats": {
    "confirmed_destroyed_range": "500,000 - 2,000,000",
    "confirmed_destroyed_by": "Anthropic (Project Panama)",
    "confirmed_pirated_by": ["Anthropic (LibGen)", "Meta (LibGen)"],
    "known_targeted_titles": 5,
    "estimated_targeted_titles": "3,000+ (from single 2077AI list alone, likely tens of thousands across all operations)",
    "companies_involved": ["Anthropic", "2077AI", "Zoom Books", "Meta", "OpenAI"],
    "countries_affected": ["Netherlands", "Germany", "Switzerland", "Spain", "United States", "United Kingdom", "Bulgaria", "New Zealand", "Canada"]
  }
}