Re: When you're buried in books


"Scrooge" <knappr@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:ddmm9s$1kna$1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>
>> I'm surprised, but I have to agree (now that I've found and read it). I
>> withdraw my moral objection to bugmenot.com, but I still say it's a
>> cumbersome process, so I'll continue to use Google for most of my news
>> needs.
>>
>> Alice
>>
>>
> Here's an interesting article on two fronts.
> Notice the last paragraph that has some bearing on this thread.
>
> http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050813/ap_on_hi_te/google_library_copyrights
>
> Rich

Rich, I agree. I've been loosely following this debate, and I do think
Google is over the edge with scanning copyrighted works.

Their stance that "publishers should want us to" looses all credibility
since the publishers have clearly said "we don't!" It's reminiscent of the
spammers who come here and insist that book collectors "should want" to see
their offerings.

Trying to force the publishers to opt out is just as ridiculous. The
copyright law already "opts out" for the publishers, since it says that one
can't copy without permission.

Possibly the most disingenuous argument I've read (in other articles on the
topic) is that Google thinks they can do this under the "fair use" doctrine.
Fair use allows copying of (usually small) portions of a copyrighted work
for the purposes of criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching,
scholarship, or research. Copying the entire work is pretty much out of the
question. Even if Google only intends to display small portions of the
copyrighted works, the act prohibited is copying.

I do think their news service is of a different caliber. They display the
first few lines of selected articles, which would probably fall under the
"fair use" doctrine in anyone's book (except that French paper that's suing
them!), and after that, it's only hyperlinks that take the user back to the
original site without frames or any other branding by Google. If a paper's
content is free to other internet users, then I don't see why it shouldn't
also be free to Google to provide links to it. In addition, there are simple
standards in wide use that prevent the kind of spidering robots that google
uses, and news sites can easily implement them if they don't want their
stories cataloged by Google or anyone else.

Alice


.

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