AI Briefing
KOSign in

Ex-Meta Researcher Admits Torrenting Pirated Books3 Dataset, Deleted It Due to Litigation

·2026.10.31 20:55

Key point

Deposition testimony reveals a former Meta researcher downloaded the pirated Books3 dataset, contradicting Meta's earlier claim that it did not obtain the data via BitTorrent.

1 / 4

Details

  • Stephen Roller, a former Meta researcher (2017–2023), admitted in deposition to torrenting the Books3 dataset and knowingly distributing it, contradicting Meta's August statement that it did not believe it obtained the dataset through BitTorrent.
  • The Books3 dataset contains nearly 200,000 pirated books from the Bibliotik tracker; Meta previously admitted using portions of it to train Llama 1 and Llama 2 models.
  • Roller stated he deleted his copy of the dataset approximately one year ago, citing the contentious nature of the ongoing litigation, while Meta argues the download may have been for personal use and occurred on his personal computer.
  • Plaintiffs, including authors and publishers, are seeking further discovery on how many copies Meta acquired and whether pirated books were used for non-AI purposes, such as an internal book club, to challenge Meta's fair use defense.
  • The case is scheduled for trial in spring 2027, with additional publishers like Elsevier, Hachette, and Macmillan recently joining the queue of related lawsuits.
copyrightmetallamalitigationfair-usepiracybooks3
Read originalShare on Threads

This summary was generated automatically by AI. Check the original for the author's claims and context. Copyright belongs to the original author.

Our guide explains how the AI works. Report summary errors, attribution issues, or removal requests via Contact.

Related

OpenAI BlogExperts and US Government File Briefs Supporting Fair Use for AI Training in NYT LawsuitGeekNewsJudge rules Anthropic illegally trained Claude on pirated booksGeekNewsMeta revises commercial terms to remove 'train' but retains broad scraping rights for AI business productsRedditMeta earnings data shows Llama mentions drop to zero as Muse hits 97 mentions and $135B capex guideHacker NewsAnthropic restricts Claude from reverse-engineering video gamesTLDR AIResearcher Reconstructs Meta's Muse Spark Open Charter from 884 Chain-of-Thought Transcripts