Internet Archive

Anna's Archive, the shadow library, has posted a $200,000 bounty for a complete copy of Google Books' scans, or a comparable trove, to fold into its permanent open collection.

It sits among smaller asks: $20k for a text version of AA's own library, $5k per million Internet Archive lending PDFs, $3k for Library of Congress MARC data.

The thread argued less about the scans than about who funds six-figure payouts, whether this turns criminal, and a warning that the bounty page links to a shady .li domain.

Jon Keegan pulled 35mm road-survey film of 1973 San Diego off the Internet Archive, color-corrected away the 'grey veil,' and stitched the frames into panoramas of a city its government never meant to make beautiful.

A reader who lives there confirmed the strangest detail: the Les Girls burlesque marquee in the footage is still standing, sign newly replaced this year — and now the subject of a podcast.