[Chapter-delegates] WIFI in Repote Areas
Evan Leibovitch
evan at telly.org
Mon Jun 17 10:09:51 PDT 2013
Gary, the extent to which Google's efforts to digitize every book is in the
interest of readers, publishers, authors and.or maybe none of them (and
just Google's), is an absolutely worthwhile debate. I would argue that most
of its ebook-related efforts to date, being generally DRM-free and open,
have been far more preferable to the directions in the same realm taken by
Apple, Amazon, and most publishers. Google is most definitely NOT the
company with monopoly power in this field. Indeed, most of the areas in
which Google is finding conflict are those which Amazon and Apple may not
consider profitable enough but have at least the potential to create public
good. While doing so certainly serves its interests, Google's ebook efforts
have been pushing for a public commons well beyond what Apple, Amazon and
publishers would like.
BTW, the legal fights with Google have come not from libraries -- who
generally applaud its actions -- but from independent authors' collectives
who believe they should be paid more for the digitizing of their works
(even in cases where the author can't be found). It's a legitimate
grievance, but its debate cannot help but bring into focus some of the
stupidity of current US copyright policy.
In any case, if this is the debate to have, that's fine. Let's just not
conflate it with side-issues about airborne access points etc.
- Evan
On 17 June 2013 16:55, Gary W Kenward <garykenward at eastlink.ca> wrote:
> Some references:
>
> Harvard librarian Robert Darnton apparently initiated the backlash in 2009
> with his New York Review of Books article "Google & the Future of Books<http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2009/feb/12/google-the-future-of-books/>
> ".
>
> Pamela Samuelson (Professor of Law at the University of California,
> Berkeley) also published an article in 2009 on Huffington Post, "Google
> Books is Not a Library<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/pamela-samuelson/google-books-is-not-a-lib_b_317518.html>"
> (there are a series of articles on Huffington Post concerning the Google
> Books saga from Prof. Samuelson on the Huffington Post site).
>
> Darnton wrote a summary of the struggle around Google Books in his 2011
> article Google’s Loss: The Public’s Gain<http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2011/apr/28/googles-loss-publics-gain/>.
> The turn point for many was the issue of "fair use" being determined by a
> sole commercial entity, namely Google.
>
> Darnton went on to foster the creation of the Digital Public Library of
> America <http://dp.la/>, launched April 18th of this year. So, for the
> moment, the American public is ahead.
>
> I also found one book on the Google Books saga. I haven't read it, but the
> on-line reviews appear good.
>
> "The Battle for the Books: Inside Google’s Gambit to Create the World’s
> Biggest Library", by Jeff John Roberts. It's vailable on Amazon, Barnes &
> Noble and Apple. The Amazon price is currently $2.90.
>
> Cheers,
> Gary
> *
>
> *
> THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS DOCUMENT IS PRIVATE AND CONFIDENTIAL.
> THIS DOCUMENT IS NOT TO BE COPIED, PRINTED OR REDISTRIBUTED WITHOUT
> PERMISSION OF THE ORIGINAL AUTHOR.
>
> On 2013.06.16, at 8:13 PM, Joly MacFie <joly at punkcast.com> wrote:
>
>
> On Sun, Jun 16, 2013 at 6:56 PM, Gary W Kenward <garykenward at eastlink.ca>wrote:
>
>> The only groups of people who have expressed a concern over Google's
>> growing acquisition of information, as far as I know, are the various
>> library associations around the world
>
>
>
> Source? I had thought libraries quite keen on the book scanning project.
> Any resistance has been from publishers and authors.
>
> j
>
> j
>
>
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--
Evan Leibovitch
Toronto Canada
Em: evan at telly dot org
Sk: evanleibovitch
Tw: el56
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