I mean it was a precarious case that was on the verge of being acceptable to most people, but legally was clearly not. Scanning books and providing a single digital copy was legally grey, but everyone looked the other way. Providing extra copies during a pandemic was kind, but allowing it to go to court and not settling (and then doubling down with appeals, all of which has to be funded by donations that could have been spent elsewhere) ended up with a judge ruling that no one can scan books and publish a single copy without an explicit license from the publisher. So that grey area is now black and white.
I can’t help but resent them for this, given that the main part of the organisation - the actual Internet Archive - is so important and they’ve put its survial at risk with their side hussle. Some of the blame (perhaps even a majority?) should also go to the lawyers that represented IA.
I don’t think it’s you being paranoid, however at the same time your husband is perhaps more on the front line of things, so should have a better idea.
I would say that as a journeyman lineman he’ll be pretty decently qualified and probably wouldn’t have as hard a time finding work abroad. It might be a tough sell with lower salaries on paper, but you often find that the standard of living improves and makes it more than worthwhile.