As you may know, Google
is making an effort to scan every book in the world. The goal is to create a
giant online database of every book that can be searched. One small problem is
the fact that Google is violating copyright laws.
Copyright
Google argues its book
database doesn’t violate copyright laws. The company
suggests it only shows short passages and accompanies the text with ads
showcasing where the full books can be purchased. Of course, the ads are Google
Adwords from which the company makes a tidy profit.
On Tuesday, the search
goliath rolled out stand-alone book search services in 14 countries. The same
day, the Text and Academic Authors Association (TAA) became the latest
publishers' organization to call Google's opt-out strategy backwards.
Authors, Publishers and
publishing associations are not happy. While Google only publishes the full
text of books in the public domain, it is still copying entire books for which
it has no permission. Google claims it can do this because the books are being
scanned from versions owned by public libraries. Fearing an avalanche of
lawsuits, Google backed off.
In August, Google
stopped scanning copyrighted books in
public library collections. At the same time, it gave publishers the right to
submit lists of books the publishers didn’t want scanned. As you can image,
publishers still aren’t happy.
The Arrogance of Google
Once viewed as the
underdog to giants such as Microsoft, Google continues to act like the local
school bully. In this case, the company has taken such an arrogant approach
that lawsuits are inevitable. Google is going to take a beating in the lawsuits
and here is why.
Consider the
neighborhood you live in. What if a local crime syndicate informed every
household it was going to steal everything in each household. Undoubtedly,
there would be calls of outrage. In response, what if the crime syndicate then
suggested you could send a list of items in your house that you didn’t want
stolen? This is exactly what Google is doing.
Google’s decision to
scan every book in the world is idealistic, but laughably simple minded. At a
time when the recording industry is suing teenagers for file swapping, one
would think Google would get a clue.
Author:Richard A. Chapo
Source: Articlecity.com
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