The role of shadow libraries in the age of LLMs, presented by the Publishers Association

Описание: The role of shadow libraries in the age of LLMs

A significant portion of digital piracy in the publishing industry emanates from a number of giant pirate networks. Despite the multiple criminal and legal actions to disrupt and stop their illegal practices, these networks or ‘shadow libraries’ have existed for quite a few years and contain millions of pirated books and research articles. This content can be easily downloaded by web users across the world for free within a few seconds on to many different devices.

What is a ‘shadow library’? How can we to stop them? Why are they so attractive to developers training large language models?

This session will aim to answer some of these questions but also investigate the past, present and future role of these illegal giant pirate networks in the hungry and unscrupulous business of training large language models.

Jack Newton, Head of Content Protection & Enforcement, Publishers Association
Jack is a seasoned content protection expert with 17 years’ experience safeguarding intellectual property across the creative industries. In 2014, he joined Springer Nature, a leading academic publisher, as Senior Anti-Piracy Manager. In 2018 he began a secondment at the City of London Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU), where he played a pivotal role in raising awareness of IP theft within the publishing sector. Since joining The UK's Publishers Association, he has been at the forefront of industry efforts to combat digital piracy. His leadership has been essential in establishing the PA as a go-to authority for members, law enforcement, and government on piracy issues. Under his guidance, the PA has successfully assisted law enforcement in taking action against major piracy platforms.