MichaelZimmer.org

Siva Vaidhyanathan is working on a paper/talk about the social implications of Google’s plan to digitize library books, and asks for feedback. The broadest issue is the widespread acceptance of the “Google paradigm” for organizing, distributing and accessing information. Google has become the “center of gravity” for information navigation and knowledge acquisition, a situation that [...]

InsideGoogle points to this report about a group of academic publishers concerned about Google’s plan to scan millions of library books into its Internet search engine index: The plan “appears to involve systematic infringement of copyright on a massive scale,” wrote Peter Givler, the executive director for the New York-based trade group. The association asked [...]

This Harvard Crimson article discusses concerns that the Google Print lirary project to digitize books at Harvard’s libraries (among others) may infringe copyright law. The debate is whether Google’s digitization efforts fall within “fair use” or are “illegal duplication” (note this appears to concern only those books not yet in the public domain). “The law [...]

TechNewsWorld reports that The National Library of France is not happy with Google’s effort to scan and integrate millions of books into its Web search. Jean-Noel Jeanneney, President of the library, wrote in an editorial that he is concerned Google’s initiative to digitalize volumes at five leading libraries will reflect a unipolar worldview dominated by [...]