August 19, 2005
A Correction Re: Google Print
I still want to do more substantive writing on Google Print, but for now a short correction. Earlier,
I suggested that public domain books would be shown in full, but Google
allows people to see only a few pages from other books for a given
search. They do – but only books explicitly authorized as
part of the Google publisher program.
For all other books (now, all others that publishers haven’t explicitly
forbidden from inclusion), Google only shows bibliographic information
and a few sentences surrounding the search term.
This seems even less objectionable and a particularly relevant point in light of Siva’s hypo involving poetry.
I know I shouldn’t fight the hypo, but I think this greatly narrows the
array of unique variations Google would have to deal with in order to
not show
the “heart” of a work. This also further demonstrates why it’s critical to
focus on what Google actually displays, rather than the intermediate
copying of the entire book.
Filed by Derek Slater at 1:45 am under General news
1 Comment
God this is so ridiculous!
Let’s fast forward to a future in which fair use enables people to publish excerpts of a few lines from any book they fancy (which they’ve potentially obtained from GooglePrint).
Let’s also imagine that a standard means of identifying an excerpt has been developed, e.g. “Frag#LOTR1234be1:page 35, lines 34-36:= Bilbo, where have you put the ring? …”.
Let’s also conjecture that these fragments can be located by utilising search engines.
Ooh! We’ve just invented BitTorrent for books.
Canute, just give up now, enjoy your retirement. Copyright’s time has passed.