Book News: Google Book Search In Trouble Again
May 4th, 2009I have yet to write about the Google Book Search and the myriad benefits/drawbacks. I have been reading about it as it goes along, and I think it is a really interesting topic. It is ripe with all kinds of potential issues and I always like a good discussion about topics that don’t have an open & shut solution. So to catch you up on the basic ideas of what is happening…From the NY Times:
The settlement agreement stems from a class action filed in 2005 by the Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers against Google. The suit claimed that Google’s practice of scanning copyrighted books from libraries for use in its Book Search service was a violation of copyrights.
The settlement, announced in October, gives Google the right to display the books online and to profit from them by selling access to individual texts and selling subscriptions to its entire collection to libraries and other institutions. Revenue would be shared among Google, authors and publishers.
I’m pretty torn on this one. On one hand, it is hard for me to see the difference between this and the music industry…why is it acceptable to reprint the work of another artist. I am not allowed to make copies of a CD to give to all of my friends…or download music for free.
On the other hand…I suppose they solved that problem by splitting the profits to be made amongst all parties. I would think that the publishing industries and authors would be excited about this prospect. Especially those authors/publishers that are not huge. It will now be much easier to find a book that you are interested in that is in a small niche instead of just the huge sellers. (See, The Long Tail for much more on that).
So what do you think…are you for Google scanning all the books that have ever existed in the entire world? Or should it be illegal?
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May 4th, 2009 at 6:50 pm
I am not thrilled with this all being in the hands of the Giant Google. I am not thrilled with any giant entities, especially when books are involved.
As to whether it will be bad for authors…I can’t say I understand it enough to be sure.