Difference between revisions of "Google Books"
(→Google in Court) |
(→Ethical Concerns) |
||
| Line 34: | Line 34: | ||
==Ethical Concerns== | ==Ethical Concerns== | ||
| − | The legal battle between Google and many publishing firms stems from copyright issues. On the web, a rising concern has been people who [[Digital Piracy| pirate]] copyrighted material. Many of those books are protected by copyrights, and Google is requiring copyright holders to opt out of the scanning process if they don't want their books in libraries to be searchable. The web is a place where information can be easily obtained, whether legally or illegally. The lawsuits against Google, speak towards the controversial, but innovative, program they are attempting to implement. As this program begins to progress, the issue of copyrighted material will surely be a concern for those involved. | + | The legal battle between Google and many publishing firms stems from copyright issues. On the web, a rising concern has been people who [[Digital Piracy| pirate]] copyrighted material. Many of those books are protected by copyrights, and Google is requiring copyright holders to opt out of the scanning process if they don't want their books in libraries to be searchable. The web is a place where information can be easily obtained, whether legally or illegally. The lawsuits against Google, speak towards the controversial, but innovative, program they are attempting to implement. As this program begins to progress, the issue of copyrighted material will surely be a concern for those involved. Google established a precedent for rightsholders to bear the burden of protecting their works rather than the other way around. Historically, the potential user of copyrighted material had to get permission to do so. Rightsholders now have to take a more active role protecting their property. |
===Print Program=== | ===Print Program=== | ||
Revision as of 20:51, 13 December 2011
Google Books is an attempt by Google to scan all books, either in print or out of print. For books that are protected under copyright law Google has provided small parts of the book to ensure that the searcher has found what they are looking for as well as links to websites that they can buy the book. For books that are not protected under copyright Google provides access for individuals to read the entirety of these books. Google has faced a barrage of legal battles over publishing companies as well as authors over the Google Book project. Google has tried to create a system which does not infringe on the rights of book owners and stringently opposes the idea that they are doing wrong to these writers and publishers.
Contents
Scanning Books
So far Google has scanned well over 15 million books(out of roughly 130 million) [1] and plans to finish the rest of them by 2020. Books are put through a scanner and the pages are ‘read’. After it is put through the scanner it is ‘read’ by a computer program which converts the image into characters using optimal character recognition. It is then stored in a database for use on Google Books.
Books Not Available
For books that Google does not have permission to display, it provides a snippet of the book. This snippet can range from a few pages to a couple hundred pages. Google's Partner Program makes more than a few sentences available for user viewing online. This program is an agreement between Google book owners to entice their readers into buying a copy of the book. Consequently, a list of online retailers who are selling this book, along with a list of libraries with the book available for renting, is made available. Additionally, there is a list of related books. The page also contains reviews of the book as well as a links to all the other books written by the same author.
Books For Public Use
Books that are in the public domain or have been released by their owner for use in this project are fully available. These virtual books are fully searchable and available as a PDF file or just as it was scanned. Google also provides the same reviews, ratings, and related books on the page. There are also opportunities to buy either a digital copy or a hard copy at a variety of retailers. The intent is to provide individuals with access to works they may not have otherwise had access to.
Orphan Works
An orphan work is a book or piece of text whose rightsholder cannot be found-- a publisher may have gone bankrupt and there are no collection of their records, records may have gone out of date, the author may have died, and the heirs cannot be found, etc. Orphan works are estimated to be between 1.5 and 6 million books. A digitizing entity could go bankrupt trying to find the copyright holder. Under the original Google Books project, orhpan works fell under the fair use argument. But with the given settlement, Google and the public have significantly greater access to the orphan works, even though they have the possibility of still being in-copyright.
Google in Court
Starting in 2005, Google began experiencing legal trouble with regard to its use of scanned material. Google had been providing its users with access to books that, although out of print, still had active copyright laws. Google has attempted to make settlements with the Author’s Guild and there has been much progress. However a US District Court ruled that resulting terms were not “fair, adequate, and reasonable”. Google offered to give book owners a flat rate per book plus royalties on the advertising done on the book's page, totaling 63% of revenue.[2] A Settlement was reached in October of 2008. What surprised many observers was the breadth of the settlement, which covered more that Google had originally intended with the Books project. [3] The settlement applies only to books that published before January 5, 2009, does not include periodicals or books that under the public domain ( they do not need copy right protection). The settlement allows Google to offer three services to users that are located in the United States:
- Previews - users can search Google's entire database of digital books and get response to searches for free. Google can display up to 20% of the books text in response. The user can receive more pages of out of print books than in print books
- Consumer Purchases - Users can purchase perpetual access to the full text of the book. They cannot make in print book available unless the copyright owner opts in. Google can change the price of the book in response to demand.
- Institutional Subscriptions -Users within an institution can view the full text of all books within the Institutional Subscription Database. Instituions include educational facilities, businesses, libraries, etc.
Partners In Digitizing
Google began asking university libraries in 2004, receiving permission from well known institutions such as the University of Michigan, Harvard, and Oxford Universities. Today there are over 20 institutions in several countries providing Google with books to digitize. Many of these institutions have gone on to create the Hathi Trust Digital Library, which has many similar functions to Google Books [4]. Hathi Trust is being sued in a separate case by the Authors Guild [5].
Benefits for Society
Upon completion (near completion because there will always be more books being produced) of this project all of the books of today will be archived. This digitalization will protect these works against aging effects. Even more importantly than that, it will provide individuals access to a multitude of books that were once available to only a small audience. This project will also provide access to literature that would not have been available to parts of the world. By including features that allow individuals to search through any document, Google will also make it easier to find information within a larger scope.
Ethical Concerns
The legal battle between Google and many publishing firms stems from copyright issues. On the web, a rising concern has been people who pirate copyrighted material. Many of those books are protected by copyrights, and Google is requiring copyright holders to opt out of the scanning process if they don't want their books in libraries to be searchable. The web is a place where information can be easily obtained, whether legally or illegally. The lawsuits against Google, speak towards the controversial, but innovative, program they are attempting to implement. As this program begins to progress, the issue of copyrighted material will surely be a concern for those involved. Google established a precedent for rightsholders to bear the burden of protecting their works rather than the other way around. Historically, the potential user of copyrighted material had to get permission to do so. Rightsholders now have to take a more active role protecting their property.
Print Program
The Print Program has two components, one for publishers and one for libraries. Under the Google Publisher Program, the company is working with book publishers to make titles searchable and easy to purchase. The search result pages include advertisements if publishers want them, and most of the revenue goes to the publishers, Google said. The controversial part of the Print Program, which has prompted two lawsuits so far, is the Print Library Project. Under the Library Project, the search giant is scanning, digitizing and making searchable parts or all of the collections from Stanford University, Harvard University, Oxford University, the University of Michigan and The New York Public Library. Google says it will scan copyright protected books from libraries unless the publisher or copyright holder expressly opts out. If the book is copyright protected, there is minimal text, only a few sentences, or "snippets," surrounding the keywords searched. [6]
References
- ↑ http://books.google.com/googlebooks/about.html
- ↑ http://www.scribd.com/doc/51327711/google-books-settlement
- ↑ Bellia, Patricia M., Paul Berman, Brett M. Frischmann, and David G. Post. Cyberlaw: Problems of Policy and Jurisprudence in the Information Age. 4th ed. St. Paul: West, 2007. Print. American Casebook Ser.
- ↑ http://www.hathitrust.org/
- ↑ Rosenthal, E. H., & Goldman, J. (2011). The Authors guild, Inc. Hathi Trust. New York.
- ↑ Mills, Elinor. Google's battle over library books. CNET, Sept. 2011. Web. 7 Dec. 2011.
