This relates to books, my favorite thing, so I think it has an interesting place here.
Google is a leader in today’s search for knowledge. When I want pizza, I type in “Papa Johns” and up comes the site. If I’m searching for a news story I heard, simply search for “shortage of tortillas in Mexico.” Well, what is the greatest source of all knowledge? Books, of course! While any old kook (including myself) can publish information, false or true, it takes at least two people to agree on putting information out into the world in book form (the writer and the publisher). So in a quest to make the universe a slightly more knowledgable place, Google is attempting to make the Internet a worldwide library, but not without some opposition.
There is an interesting article in last week's New Yorker concerning their quest. Each week, a Google truck pulls up to the Cecil H. Green Library at Stanford University and collects thousands of books. They are then taken and scanned, page-by-page, into a database collected by Google. And Google intends to scan every book ever written, and make the texts searchable, as they already have with Websites. They believe they can do this amazing feat inside of ten years.
Their only motivation for such a mission: to make “the world’s information…universally accessible and useful.” Noble, and mind-boggling at the same time. However, for such a huge company (worth billions of dollars) to be quietly consuming libraries full of volumes of knowledge creates some modicum of resistance.
Nearly all attempts at making books electronic have failed, however, these free electronic versions infringe upon publishers’ domain. Simon & Schuster, Penguin Group, and McGraw Hill have all filed a lawsuit against the company, urging Google to stop the project. The issue lies, of course, in copyright laws.
The first such law was passed in 1790, but is confusing, and constantly amended, most recently and memorably in 1998. The publisher’s complaint is that Google is essentially copying millions of volumes of books without any compensation or payment to the owners. While many books copyright protections have expired, the vast majority of books are still under copyright or out of print. Google is scanning the entire book, but only making “snippets” available on the Web. Herein lies the rub.
Copyright law has never forbidden all copying of a work; for instance, most of us have quoted material in a paper or for other such fair use. Google’s argument is that it’s the same concept as Websites. People expect their websites to be found, even though they are also copyrighted, so by scanning books, Google gives people a chance to find books as well, and for them to be more easily accessible. But publishers maintain that the act of copying is an infringement of the traditional understanding, even if only portions are available for viewing.
As Google is first and foremost a business, it will be up to the courts to ultimately allow Google to continue scanning the material, but most involved believe that a settlement is most likely. Google could pay in cash, or in kind with advertising for the publishing companies, or even specific books. Business exists in a world outside the court time; it can’t wait for lawsuits to be resolved.
In this digital age, it’s an interesting conundrum. Libraries, publishers, people must adapt. But this could change the way we read. Technology has been evolving for many years, and it will certainly continue to. My personal opinion is that anytime knowledge, and particularly BOOKS are more readily available, it’s only a good thing, never evil. What do you think?
