[A2k] Jamie Boyle: We Must Stop Google Books Because It Will Work!!!

Tue Sep 8 20:53:08 2009

Brilliant bit of satire, Manon - but as a report, err, a bit unfair.
Sure there were some mind-boggling statements at the Sept. 7 hearing,
as for instance Nicolas Georges' for the French Ministry of Culture.
But there were also constructive criticisms, even from the French
site: e.g.  Bernard Lang's contribution based on the research that has
been done by the copyright experts' group of the European Digital
Libraries on orphan works. Another important point raised by Lang was
the need for more accurate identifiers in the registry.

Sylvia van Peteghem, of Ghent University Library, which is taking part
in the Google scan, said that if only Google had already scanned the
books when they had a flood there, they would still have them. She
also said that in non US libraries, Google was only scanning works up
to 1869 (she explained to me that this was to steer clear of copyright
issues in case someone wrote a book when s/he was 12 then went on to
live to 110). Someone pointed out the advantages for preservation of
Google using open standard software. Etc.

And objections to the Settlement in the name of readers' rights were
also presented, in particular by Peter Brantley of the Internet
Archive. Julia Wright, daughter of Richard Wright, expressed her [and
other authors'] hurt at the way the Authors' Guild did the class
action and negotiated the Settlement without bothering to consult its
members.

And Dan Clancy (Google), in one of the last Q and A of the day,
precisely broached the issue of copyright regimes in Europe:

"But what I would really call on everyone here is to think of trying
collectively to create a world where 10 years from now, this content
is digitally accessible and (...) that this will spur a discussion
towards a European solution".

So on the whole, the hearing was far less a primitive cocorico
anti-Google / anti-US affair than some prior French and German
statements might have let fear, or than the blog post by James Boyle
you sent makes seem.

By then, though, the representative of the French Ministry of Culture
had already left the room...

Best

Claude

PS Interesting other Q and A: "What will happen to the database if
Google goes out of business?"  Dan Clancy's answer for Google: "...
Under the agreement, (...) if Google ever stops making a number of
required services available for even up to 15% (...), so we have to do
at least 85% of the contract, then our library partners have  the
ability to turn on a provision that will require us to give them all
the scans, and that they could then find an alternative provider to
make these services available".

On Wed, Sep 9, 2009 at 12:17 AM, Manon Ress<manon.ress@keionline.org> wrote=
:
> http://www.thepublicdomain.org/2009/09/08/we-must-stop-google-books-becau=
se-it-will-work/
>
> We Must Stop Google Books Because It Will Work!!!
>
> There are good reasons to worry about the Google Book Search
> Settlement, as I explained at length here. =C2=A0But of all of the reason=
s
> to oppose it, this utterly surreal statement is my favourite.
>
> European officials fear that if the Google project goes ahead in the
> US, a yawning transatlantic gap will open up in education and research.
>
> =E2=80=9COh my God! =C2=A0The Americans are about to create a private wor=
karound of
> the enormous mess that we regulators have made of national copyright
> policy! =C2=A0They will fix the unholy legal screwups that leave most of
> 20th century culture books unavailable, yet still under copyright!
> They will gain access to their cultural heritage =E2=80=94 giving them a =
huge
> competitive advantage in education. =C2=A0This MUST BE STOPPED!! =C2=A0No=
 one
> can be allowed to fix this for any other country because then we would
> be left alone stewing in our own intellectual property stupidity! =C2=A0W=
e
> must forbid their progress in order to protect our ignorance.
>
> But wait, there=E2=80=99s more. If anyone does do it, it must be the stat=
e!
> (Which so far has failed completely to provide legal access to orphan
> works or commercially unavailable works, works that are unavailable
> because of=E2=80=A6 wait for it, wait for it, the state locking up our
> cultural heritage unnecessarily)
>
> Google maintains it is engaged in the huge project for the public
> good. =C2=A0Others say such public good should be left to the public sphe=
re.
>
> [Actually, Google says it is doing it to make money, but that it will
> produce an enormous public good, something that makes the company very
> happy.] =C2=A0But look at the phrase in bold. =C2=A0Only the state may fi=
x the
> problems the state has created. =C2=A0And if Europe can=E2=80=99t fix tho=
se
> problems for itself, everyone else should be forbidden from doing so
> as well. QED. =C2=A0Now, to the credit of the EU, the article suggests th=
at
> the EU will pursue this not only by trying to ban what Google wants to
> do, something France and Germany have already attempted, but by
> =E2=80=9Ccopyright reform and =E2=80=9Cpublic-private partnerships as a m=
eans to boost
> digitisation of books.=E2=80=9D =C2=A0Great. =C2=A0But how about treating=
 the Google
> Books project as a demonstration of an entirely unnecessary problem
> created by states =E2=80=94 particularly including European and American
> copyright policy makers. =C2=A0If it weren=E2=80=99t for the ridiculous c=
opyright
> extensions, abolition of formalities and ending of renewable terms,
> we wouldn=E2=80=99t have the problem of the 20th century black hole. =C2=
=A0Now a
> company manages to craft a settlement that will work around this,
> restoring, at least for some citizens of the world, access to a
> heritage that they never should have lost =E2=80=94 and to do so in a way=
 that
> pays authors and publishers where they can be found. =C2=A0Europe=E2=80=
=99s
> answer? =C2=A0This must be forbidden! =C2=A0Stop the settlement! =C2=A0Ma=
ke sure no
> European books get freed! =C2=A0Make European participation only on an =
=E2=80=9Copt
> in=E2=80=9D basis, =C2=A0so NO orphan works =E2=80=94 by definition =E2=
=80=94 can be included,
> since they have no one to opt in for them. =C2=A0Complain that a private
> company is involved!! =C2=A0 Prevent this settlement now to stop the US
> getting a lead, and maybe one day we=E2=80=99ll fix the problems that we =
the
> regulators created in the first place! =C2=A0(Yeah, right.)
>
> Brilliant. =C2=A0You couldn=E2=80=99t make this stuff up.
>
> http://twitter.com/thepublicdomain

--
On August 1st, 2009, the new Swiss directive on  comunication
monitoring came into force. See "Echtzeitbespitzelung NEIN, NO - NEVER
AGAIN!" http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=3D109733541119