Google's book monopoly

Authors, publishers and institutions are all lining up to agree to Google taking over the copying (cost) and dissemination of all literary works, many of which are out of print, out of copyright or are “orphans� (meaning no one can find an owner any more). Money will flow to authors (if they can be found) a penny at a time, to the great libraries supplying all these dusty, forgotten books and, of course, Google (advertising revenue).

Where will Google make these books available? At libraries and similar locations (universities, schools, etc.). And which books are being included? Anything and everything. So, under Google’s plan, you will soon be able to go to your public library and read (on a screen) virtually every old book out there, a few tens of millions of them.

Google’s argument is that they want to help libraries. They see themselves as a paid (advertising) system to bring a Carnegie-like philanthropy to every library in the nation. Google has promised to make millions upon millions of out-of-print books available for free online viewing at 16,500 public library buildings and more than 4,000 colleges and universities, and “that’s a great thing for readers, students and scholars,� says the promotional literature.

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Sounds good, no? And Judge Chin (the appellate judge about to favor Google in a class-action suit brought to stop them) will give her decision any day now. Meanwhile, in Europe and Asia they are furious. Google will control, just like the American cable companies controlled your TV access, a monopoly of access to and dissemination of all the works, many of which had foreign authors. Google says it will, in time, make these books available to Europe and Asia as well. For the moment, no one knows how or when. Google says it cannot afford to do this “public service� unless they have exclusivity (a monopoly).

Many authors have become convinced that the Google deal will provide greater access to their books. And perhaps they can make additional money on books out of print but still “a damn good read.� The list of authors, all part of the Author’s Guild, who are signing on is impressive.

The rest of the authors out there are going to have Judge Chin make up their minds for them, or they can tell Google “no� to anything with their name on it and, presto, they can be blacked out of libraries. Google says it will respect any author’s decision to commit themselves this way to the hinterland. One paper in Japan put it this way: To hara-kiri or not to, that is the Google opt-out question.

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Remember, Google is currently promising these books will only be available in libraries and schools. However, Google has a business document online (see Scribd) that has this worrying “Vision Statement�:

“Google believes that an open Web benefits all users and publishers. However, ‘open’ need not mean free. We believe that content on the Internet can thrive supported by multiple business models — including content available only via subscription. While we believe that advertising will likely remain the main source of revenue for most news content, a paid model can serve as an important source of additional revenue. In addition, a successful paid content model can enhance advertising opportunities, rather than replace them. When it comes to a paid content model, there are two main challenges. First, the content must offer value to users. Only content creators can address this.�

For content read the printed word, read books.

“The second is to create a simple payment model that is painless for users.… Google’s mission is to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful. This applies to all information — paid and free.�

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Clearly Google’s reach is ubiquitous and, you read it here (perhaps not first), there is no way it will limit access to these books, given to them for free, scanned and made part of its digital ownership (i.e., assets of Google), to libraries and schools. Once they have the right to copy books (copyrighted books included) and to display those books, they can control what they do with them.

For the final word, let us turn to Marybeth Peters at the U.S. Copyright Office: “Key parts of the [Google] settlement are fundamentally at odds with the law.� In a letter to the committee, Peters says in multiple ways that Congress should be concerned about the settlement’s attempt to resolve issues that Congress itself has not acted on: “In the view of the copyright office, the settlement proposed by the parties would encroach on responsibility for copyright policy that traditionally has been the domain of Congress.… We are greatly concerned by the parties’ end run around legislative process and prerogatives, and we submit that this Committee should be equally concerned.�

Peters reiterates her position that it “would inappropriately interfere with the ongoing efforts of Congress to enact [copyright]  legislation in a manner that takes into account the concerns of all stakeholders as well as the United States’ international obligations.â€�

In short, Google is about to get the law changed and the lawmakers — your lawmakers — will have no say — yet.

Newspapers are next on Google’s radar.

Peter Riva, formerly of Amenia Union, lives in New Mexico.