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Google book settlement targeted by new coalition: Microsoft, Amazon and Yahoo among members
August 21, 2009 | 5:07 am
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By David Rothman
“Three technology heavyweights and some library associations are joining a coalition led by a prominent Silicon Valley lawyer to challenge Google Inc.’s settlement with authors and publishers.” – Wall Street Journal.
Details: Microsoft, Amazon and Yahoo have joined the Internet Archive, some library groups and others in the new coalition.
Related: Techmeme and Google roundups.
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Comments:
I can’t believe these groups had the best interests of the consumer, or authors for that matter, in mind when they joined this coalition. I’d like to see something positive come out of it – but I;m not hopeful. Are they just opposing the settlement, or do they actually have an alternative to offer? Where were they all those years when Google stood alone trying to bring out of print, out of copyright and other obscure works to light for the enjoyment of readers and researchers? I don’t see this as a positive step, considering they haven’t offered anything on these issues in the past.
Actually Microsoft had a similar scanning scheme, although one that respected copyright. Internet Archive is also part of this coalition, and they exist to provide texts of out-of-print books. So TheRealBillC’s points don’t hold water.
That said, almost everyone in this dispute is behaving selfishly. Google is the worst. It wants the U.S. copyright of virtually every author on the planet set aside–but just for it. Microsoft and Amazon are upset over the advantage that would give Google and not the harm it does to writers. If they could do what Google wants to be, they’d be as quiet as church mice.
Libraries are downright weird, acting as if having a single copy of a book in their collection allows them to copy it (digitally) with utter abandon. Without them, Google’s plan would grind to a halt, since Google is too cheap to even buy one copy of the books it is scanning.
Government agencies are focusing on the anti-trust elements of this dispute, which is another way of saying that government lawyers see it as a lucrative, make-work project for themselves and their cronies. If they have their way, this dispute will take so long, many of this books will be out of copyright.
Few seem to care that the intended victim–indeed the only real victim–is the author whose copyright is being cast aside for what Google claims is a grand vision, but which is, in fact, just another bit of digital space on which Google intends to plaster ads.
the book market faces tougher times, way more than that. micropublishing is the key for the future of the publishing business