Coral Wire — Sat, Sep 26 2026

The Coral Index closed at 62/100 — Tailwinds building. 29 graded stories fed that reading.

• Editor impersonation scam doubles Writer Beware's tracking listLegal — Sloppy AI templates are exposing how scammers build personalized, multi-phase pitches designed to delay any mention of money
• Unsealed filings show Microsoft exec called AI training theft of laborLegal — The quote comes from a separate news-publishers' case, while authors' own summary-judgment motion sits pending since September 4
• DGB quits AALA over paid editorial services clauseLegal — The agency says the new Canon of Ethics lets agencies charge non-clients for edits and later sign them as clients
• Florida official orders schools to preemptively pull booksLegal — Commissioner Henry Mack's seven-page letter tells superintendents to remove titles before the state does it for them
• Goncourt pulls Orélien novel over AI and plagiarism claimsAI — A separate La Presse investigation reportedly found plagiarism in his earlier work, predating any AI concerns
• Scholastic Q1 sales fall 4% as children's books slide tooMarket — Children's Book Publishing and Distribution sales dropped 3% to $105.8 million as the company's operating loss held flat at $(92.2) million
• Eight booksellers warn NSPM-7 could criminalize the tradeLegal — The memo's own test case: a printer and a book club became "material support for terrorists," with sentences of 30 to 100 years.
• Hoffman family takes over Vroman's and Book SoupMarket — The move ends a two-year search to succeed Joel Sheldon, whose family led Vroman's for 100 years.
• Copyright Alliance argues pirated sources sink AI fair use claimsLegal — The group says courts weighing fair use should also ask whether the copy used was authorized in the first place
• EWC accuses AI firms of shredding rare books after scanning themLegal — The EU Commission says digitising physical books requires rightsholder permission, since text-and-data-mining exceptions cover only digital-born works

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