> Is the reputational risk of pirating [worse than] destructively scanning

Yes, actually: The blame or bad-reputation for that waste goes to US copyright law and its inanities.

Huh? Anthropic bought the books it seems. They acquired the books fair and square. They ripped up their own books; I may hold that to be sacrilege but those aren't my books. They're not even library books. They're Anthropic's books. Why should I care if they burn the books they've legally acquired? They don't even seem to be rare or coveted copies. I'm just happy for the secondhand booksellers who made bank from the transaction.