Interesting article on the BBC News site regarding Google’s plan to ‘ingest’ or ‘digitize’ every printed book on the planet. Despite assurances regarding the sale of these works (that Google won’t), it raises interesting issues about copyrights. What prospect does an author have of continuing to sell his or her work when it has been bought, scanned, and indexed by the runaway leading search engine?
I love Google — Google brings a lot of visitors to this blog (well I guess some work on SEO has helped). But I haven’t thought much about this issue and am inclined to deepen my study of this one!
What do you think?
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Tim – Interesting to note that Marybeth Peters, U.S. Registrar of Copyrights, in response to the fact that the federal judge presiding over the Google Books Search Settlement class action suit essentially changed copyright law, told Congress that the case “makes a mockery of Article 1 of the Constitution.” Only Congress has the power to change copyright law. More: http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6695829.html
Thanks for the comment, John. Somehow this question remains under the radar. Why is it I feel like this is Napster for all printed content?