Google's Critics

Jonathan V. Last finds that Google's plan to digitize 32 million books is sparking some intriguing copyright questions. An excerpt:

Google has also expanded its list of library partners to include 13 additional libraries, ranging from the Bavarian State Library to the University of Virginia. Most of the agreements are private, so it is unclear what the participating institutions get from the deal, other than a digital copy of books they already own. For Google, the potential upside must seem enormous: The ebook movement of a few years ago failed but the Holy Grail of the digital library movement remains a massive archive of books, all searchable, which can be accessed from anywhere on the planet. Already a company called OnDemandBooks has created a machine called "Espresso" which can take the digital text of a book, print it, and bind it into soft cover in about four minutes. The commercial promise--and downright coolness--of Google's undertaking staggers the mind. Which is why many recent accounts of the project, from Toobin's to Jason Epstein's in the New York Review of Books to Michael Hirschorn's in the Atlantic, vibrate with fidgety, egg-headed excitement.