The huge Google Books fiasco began in 2004, when Google ambitious tried to recreate a digital Library of Alexandria. The aim, to scan and place on the Internet, every book that they could have access to, create a huge repository of books and printed material, that could be scanned and searched for from anywhere across the globe.
The idea started in 2004. The aim : The democratization of Information. Which goes very well with Google’s “Don’t be Evil” Philosophy.
By March 2007, Google had digitized one million books, at an estimated cost of US $5 million. As of 2009, Google has scanned over 10 million books. Some are “full preview” books, others allow only snippets or certain pages to be visible.
The benefits : Scan and/or preview a book before buying it. OR Read the Book for Free (the free / preview option is based on a settlement between publishers)
Unfortunately the deal went awry. Scouting the scope for potential violation of Law and Copyright Infringement, a series of lawsuits followed. The Authors Guild v/s Google and the Association of American Publishers v/s Google in 2005.. A partial agreement was settled upon in 2008 for a model by which Authors could gain revenue. However, there were a lot of hitches. There was of course the issue of Global / Local Copyright. Then, there was the issue of giving Google sole control over such a large amount of data which they feared could be misused.
As of now, you can access Google Books three ways
- To View in-copyright and in-print books. (Which publishers are actively selling). Through Book Search, you may preview them and purchase them
- In-copyright but out-of-print books : These aren’t free because they’re still under copyright, but the new agreement will give Google access to their digitized models which they can sell.
- Out-of-copyright : Not mentioned, and is hence assumed free. These you may download.
The major misgivings which have been stated by the Open Book Alliance are as follows : The Open Book Alliance outlined its major concerns as :
- The settlement still allows Google to purchase a monopoly on digital books.
- Authors must still opt-out of the agreement even if they have not given their consent to be included in the deal.
- Google’s claims regarding the Unclaimed Works Fiduciary are misleading and simply false.
- Consumer privacy has NOT been protected or improved.
- Academic libraries and independent researchers are still at the mercy of pricing from Google’s one stop book shop.
- Instead of negotiating with stakeholders, Google cuts them out.
The 2nd point is the most fishy. If an author doesn’t want his book to be included, he must choose to opt out, as opposed to Google asking authors their permission. Basically, if an author is silent, his consent is assumed as given, a concept which is extremely unfair.
A few days ago, a lot of critics filed their objections. And now, Indian authors have jumped into the fray.
Indian authors and publishers, including Star Publications, Abhinav Publications, Daya Publication House and Pustak Mahal along with the Indian Reprographic Rights Organisation and Federation of Indian Publishers, have approached the New York District Court. Mr Siddharth Arya, legal counsel for IRRO, said: “The Google Book Settlement is contrary to every international treaty that governs copyright laws. Google’s unilateral conduct is a brazen attempt to turn copyright law on its head, by usurping the exclusive rights of the copyright holder.”
What a successive deal with Google could mean is that universities or publishers will no longer have sole authority to publish or sell the books. Google can give them off for free online. Also, the scope of the Settlement states that any book that is registered with United States Copyright Act and is published in USA, Canada, UK or Australia comes into the ambit of this Act.
Google, of course, denies all allegations of Copyright Infringement.
Go to books.google.com and you’ll see a “groundbreaking settlement”. It explains the entire issue in plain simple words, and goes on to say this.
“Google’s mission is to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful. Today, together with the authors, publishers, and libraries, we have been able to make a great leap in this endeavor,” said Sergey Brin, co-founder & president of technology at Google. “While this agreement is a real win-win for all of us, the real victors are all the readers. The tremendous wealth of knowledge that lies within the books of the world will now be at their fingertips.”
We hope and expect that this leap forward with our friends and partners in the publishing industry is just the first of many. We love books at Google, and our fondest dream is that Book Search will evolve into a service that ensures that books, along with their authors and publishers, will flourish for many years into the future.”
