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Web Site To Host Debate Over Google’s Digital Book Project

Posted on: Wednesday, 27 May 2009, 14:34 CDT

Caroline Vanderlip believes the growing debate over Google’s plans to form a large Internet library of copyright-protected content would create enough material to fill a book. 

So, according to the Associated Press, she created a Web site that will allow both supporters and foes of the idea to more easily air their views about an upcoming legal settlement that will either derail or fulfill Google’s digital book project.

Vanderlip’s five-year-old company, New York-based SharedBook Inc., will introduce the site this Thursday at www.gbs.sharedbook.com.  Its annotation tools will allow users to comment on the class-action lawsuit filed four years ago by authors and publishers.

SharedBook aims to convert the dissertation into a book that will be sold "at cost," Vanderlip said.

"We think this debate is a very important for the publishing industry," she told the Associated Press.

"There are enormous number of people discussing the pros and cons of this settlement,” she said.

If a federal court approves the settlement this fall, Google will have the right to produce digital copies of millions of copyrighted books that are no longer in print.

The Internet search giant and its supporters say the settlement will help the publishing industry and society in general by making out-of-print books more accessible, but critics argue it concentrates too much power within a single firm.

The concerns about the settlement have triggered the interest of the U.S. Department of Justice, which is looking in to whether Google’s control of digital books would stifle competition.

Prompted by the protests about the settlement, U.S. District Judge Denny Chin in New York has extended the deadline for objections to September 7, which will be followed by a hearing scheduled for October 12 to approve the settlement.

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On the Net:

• Google
• SharedBook Inc.

Source: redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports

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