Google Presses Forward Scanning Books

Google is moving ahead with its plans to digitize vast numbers of books and make them available online. The search engine this week expanded its book search service to 14 countries, including the United Kingdom, Canada, India, New Zealand, South Africa, and Australia, where users can now search English-language books. Although laws in each country dictate small differences in how the service works, according to Jim Gerber, director of content partnerships, in all countries the service offers three types of results: for books in the public domain, the entire text is available online; copyrighted works whose publishers have signed agreements with Google are available to the extent that those agreements allow; for copyrighted books whose publishers have not made agreements with Google, only selected portions will be available online. This last group of results has raised the ire of publishers, who argue that Google has no right to display any part of copyrighted works without permission. Google has offered publishers the opportunity to identify specific titles that will be excluded from the service, but most publishing groups have said that approach is inherently backwards, giving Google blanket authority until and unless publishers complain.

Internet News, 31 August 2005