Google Book Search

Interessant artikkel om Google Book Search i The New Yorker: Google’s Moon Shot, The New Yorker, 29. jan. 2007, (via Kottke).

Google Book Search er mildt sagt et ganske omfattende prosjekt. Google regner med at de kan skanne og ocr-lese sånn omtrent alle bøkene i verden i løpet av 10 år:

No one really knows how many books there are. The most volumes listed in any catalogue is thirty-two million, the number in WorldCat, a database of titles from more than twenty-five thousand libraries around the world. Google aims to scan at least that many. “We think that we can do it all inside of ten years,” Marissa Mayer, a vice-president at Google who is in charge of the books project, said recently, at the company’s headquarters, in Mountain View, California. “It’s mind-boggling to me, how close it is. I think of Google Books as our moon shot.”

Mer interessant enn omfanget av Google Book Search er at rettstvisten, mellom Google på den ene siden og Authors Guild og AAP på den andre siden, kan ende med at Google får monopol på publisering av opphavsbeskyttede bøker som ikke lenger er i salg:

... Both sets of plaintiffs claim that the library component of the project violates copyright law. Like most federal lawsuits, these cases appear likely to be settled before they go to trial, and the terms of any such deal will shape the future of digital books. Google, in an effort to put the lawsuits behind it, may agree to pay the plaintiffs more than a court would require; but, by doing so, the company would discourage potential competitors. To put it another way, being taken to court and charged with copyright infringement on a large scale might be the best thing that ever happens to Google’s foray into the printed word.

Google Book Search er tidligere omtalt her:
- Bøker fra Google?
- Google Shakespeare
- Om bokens digitale fremtid
- Den amerikanske forleggerforeningen saksøker Google
- Lawrence Lessig om Google Print
- Video av Google Print-debatten i NY
- Lessig foredrag
- Open Content Alliance
- Bøker fra Google