[inigyou]

Yes, actually it is

[netsharc]

I'm going to buy a Taylor Swift CD, rip it as MP3s, destroy the CD, and put the MP3s online...

Will I get sued?

[pfdietz]

The "putting it online" part is where you are f-ing up.

[themaninthedark]

But it's transformed now!

Edit(seriously): >Transformativeness is a characteristic of such derivative works that makes them transcend, or place in a new light, the underlying works on which they are based. In computer- and Internet-related works, the transformative characteristic of the later work is often that it provides the public with a benefit not previously available to it, which would otherwise remain unavailable.(Wikipedia)

I am sure Napster or the like argued that what they were doing was transformative.

Not sure how AI companies are arguing about PUBLIC benefit if you have to pay...

[pfdietz]

It has to be sufficiently transformed. Simply scanning it doesn't qualify. The legal system by contrast is leaning toward training of AI as being sufficiently transformative.

[pfdietz]

Destroying your copy of a copyrighted work does not violate copyright.

[inigyou]

Format shifting is allowed. Making copies isn't. By destroying the original, it's format shifting.

[pfdietz]

Right. But destroying a book even without making a copy is also allowed. It's very very common, in fact; something approaching a billion books are destroyed each year in the US.