Google Controversy Continues

Google Print, Google's plan to digitize thousands of books, continues to spur debate in the publishing and library worlds. Google's original plan was "to make the full text of all the world's books searchable by anyone." They would have made available full text versions of books in the public domain (published before 1923) and portions of those works still in copyright. Last Thursday Google announced a change in policy. Now copyright holders may submit names of books they want excluded from the project altogether.

Is Google betraying the rights of the consumer/user, or is it simply conforming to laws protecting copyright holders? Compelling arguments on both sides are all over the web: you might check out the debate between writer/activist Aaron Swartz and NYU prof Siva Vaidhyanathan (author of Copyrights and Copywrongs). While no one will be affected by this project for many years, it's worth keeping up with, for what happens with Google will affect the future of publishing, and our own future as writers.