The Association of American Publishers and the Authors Guild is none too happy with Google's plan to indiscriminately scan, index, and allow the searching of millions of books from libraries the world over and Microsoft is capitalizing on this rare chink in Google's armor.
Copyrighters are claiming infringement because Google is making advertising revenue from the results of book searches in the
Ross's Take: Google Needs to Re-Examine Its Values
I think the concept of indexing the world's libraries is phenomenal but it should be done respectfully using an opt-in process. It is pretentious and unlawful for Google to require the rightful owners of copyrighted books to take the time to opt-out of a process that clearly violates the rights they already went to great lengths to secure. To draw a parallel... would Google argue that anyone can mass email without the permission of the recipients under the argument that they were provided with a functional opt-out mechanism? I think not.
Furthermore, Google's argument that indexing content found on the web is same as indexing books is completely ridiculous. After all, many of the books that Google will index are not already online in scanned format so in essence they are now integrating content not originally intended for online use. That authors/publishers have not placed this content online must be respected and Google should require the approval of the authors or publishers before placing any of the scanned information live. I know this will slow down the whole process of indexing the world's knowledge but that will always be more appealing than sacrificing rights.
-- Is it just me or in this case does Google seem to have forgotten their popular mantra... "Don't Be Evil"? I hope Google replies and provides further insight into their position. I wonder where the other major search engines stand in this matter?
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