[coldpie]

Put yourself in their shoes at the beginning of the pandemic. Libraries close, schools close, students have to stay home from classes, physical production and shipping slows down or stops, people are losing their livelihoods, and no one knows how this is going to shake out. Meanwhile you're sitting on a massive wealth of human knowledge, and you're also a bit of an idealist and you recognize the vast harm our 1970s-era infinite-copyright policy has had over the past 50 years on our collective education and culture. Maybe there will be consequences down the road, but today, right now, you can help make peoples' days and futures a little less shitty.

I dunno, man. It's hard for me to imagine being in that position and not pressing the button. I imagine the archive (and their lawyers) went into the decision with eyes fully open. I doubt they had zero contingency plans for the worst case.