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Canada is refusing to issue ISBNs to books primarily generated with AI. This illustrates both the urgency of the problem of the growing flood of slop books, and also the toothlessness of addressing it on the honor system without there also being consequences for lying

I'm pretty sure lying on the ISBN application is a crime, although whether it would get prosecuted may be another story.

How is it a crime? ISBNs are not government issued, they are sold by private companies.

ISBNs in Canada are bulk purchased by Library and Archives Canada and distributed free to publishers (and self-publishers) who meet Canadian content requirements. Lying on the LAC form to get a free ISBN constitutes fraud (as people e.g. pretending to be Canadian have found out).

It's somewhat unusual to privatize ISBN issuing, although the US and UK have done so.

It seems odd that governments would manage something like that tbh.