Librarians, relatives of deceased authors, researchers, book publishers and The Author’s Guild have objected to Google’s plan to digitize millions of out of print books. On October 9th, the Federal Court of New York ordered Google to modify their plan which allows for 1 free station per public library and one station for every 4,000 students at an academic institution with the customer paying Google for printing! Benefits to users include access to millions of out of print books and audio editions for visually impaired readers. Objections include: copyright infringements when the authors cannot be located; a monopoly which violates antitrust laws; a for-profit company (Google) securing rights to public resources and possible violation of patron privacy. Google must make its revised plan known by November 9th, 2009; however, it may take months or years to reach an agreement. For more information about this important case, go to http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/04/technology/internet/04books.html.
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