Overview
- Journalists from 404 Media placed an Apple AirTag inside a bookseller’s 1,000‑book order and tracked the package to Amazon’s Las Vegas facility known internally as VGT3, where worker posts and on‑site signage indicate a unit that scans books after cutting their bindings.
- Amazon said it buys books through commercial channels to develop products and services but did not confirm whether material processed at VGT3 is being used to train its AI models.
- Workers’ forum posts reviewed by reporters describe staff who scan barcodes and cut spines before running pages through high‑speed scanners, a workflow that destroys originals but speeds industrial digitization.
- The finding updates earlier reporting about Anthropic’s 'Project Panama' and a June 2025 court ruling that converting lawfully bought print books into internal digital copies can qualify as transformative fair use, creating a legal environment that has allowed destructive scanning to scale.
- Authors, booksellers and archivists warn the practice risks erasing rare and out‑of‑print cultural materials and say the trace to Amazon is likely to increase pressure for transparency, non‑destructive scanning methods and clearer regulation.