Been reading good things about it. I can’t wait to see if it’s really faster, and has better search capabilities on my HD! Have you ever tried to search thousands…
Tag: <span>google</span>
Google steals books. It has also broken the DMCA and copyright law, which was already shaky. Hey, everything online is free, right? Why not pictures, photos, cartoons, articles, and books? Google is the new Establishment, killing content with unlawful competition.
I was trying to decide what to do for my Slate cartoon today, and found that once again Google was in the news for lifting not just orphan books, but every book ever written. I did my first Slate cartoon about Google a few weeks ago, and the news then was that FINALLY the Justice Department was investigating Google for anti-trust violations and being an obvious monopoly and stealing all books for itself. Today, however, the New York Times reports:
The Justice Department, which submitted a 32-page filing to the court on Sept. 18, said it was concerned the agreement could violate antitrust law by giving Google “de facto exclusive rights for the digital distribution of orphan works.” Orphan works are books whose authors are unknown or cannot be found. The Justice Department also said it wanted the settlement to comply with procedures for class-action lawsuits.
But the department also said it hoped the agreement could be saved because of its many benefits to readers and scholars.
So the Justice Department has been bought. What benefits to readers are more important than benefits to the authors??? Scholars? Hello, if a writer wanted her work to be given away for free she’d start a frigging blog, or post research on a forum. And the f -ing readers can go BUY THE DAMN BOOK. Does the Justice Department understand anything at all about intellectual property? How about merchandise? Merchandise is not DONATED, it is SOLD.
Christopher S. Danielsen, a spokesman for the National Federation of the Blind, said the settlement would bring benefits for the visually impaired because the more than seven million books scanned by Google would be made available in audio editions.
Did you notice that part? SEVEN MILLION BOOKS STOLEN BY GOOGLE? Oh, and guess who else decided they wanted all these books for themselves, besides the blind? The League of United Latin American Citizens. Apparently this group forgot to go to school, or go to the library, and don’t know what a bookstore is.
