Google Book Deal Rocks the Boat

Microsoft and Yahoo are taking a stance against Google's book deal citing anti-competitive behavior. That ought to bring a chuckle out of anyone who knows anything about Microsoft. If you aren't familiar, the news is that Microsoft, Yahoo and Amazon have united against Google's attempt to "monopolize the library system," according to some people. Amazon's involvement is still more of a rumor than anything else, but Microsoft and Yahoo have signed on with the Open Book Alliance to fight Google's deal.

So what is the deal? After a 2008 lawsuit for copyright infringement, Google moved to settle by paying $125 million and creating a Book Rights Registry where publishers and authors could submit their works and be compensated. Google would be taking 30% of income generated by sales online and publishers and authors would receive 70%.

The spooky part is that Google would have the right to digitize orphan works, meaning those who's rights-holders are not known. Sources say that such works make up anywhere from 50-70% of all books published since 1923.

The Internet Archive is spearheading a movement called the Open Book Alliance, made up of non-profits and libraries. Their effort against Google's settlement is what Yahoo, Microsoft and various other entities have united under. The Internet Archive has digitized over a million books themselves, but they are all available for free.

Concerns have been raised that if libraries need to access books through Google's digitized versions, they will have to pay whatever price Google sets. Many are also concerned that the deal will change the landscape where libraries are concerned, and this relates to books being accessed digitally instead of physically. That is probably an inevitability regardless of Google's involvement.

Of course the deal is under review by the U.S. Justice Department, the European Commission and a group of U.S. state attorneys general. Privacy issues are a major concern as well. Libraries operate in a way where borrowers' records are strictly confidential. This is crucial to many people and there have been some serious complaints that Google is not taking a firm enough stand on the issue.

Only time will tell the outcome to this issue. For now we'll just have to watch and wait.

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