Another week brings yet another bunch of folks who are mad as all get-out at Google. The company that once could do no wrong now routinely finds itself being compared with Microsoft – and not in a good way.
Last week it was book publishers and bloggers whacking Google upside the head.
Both have good cause, too.
Books first. As you may have read, the Association of American Publishers (AAP) and five of its most prominent members – McGraw-Hill, Pearson Education, Penguin Group, Simon & Schuster and John Wiley & Sons – have filed a lawsuit to stop Google from proceeding with the Google Print Library Project, the search giant’s attempt to create digital copies and an index of millions of books, including those still under copyright. The publishers – much like an author’s group that filed a similar suit earlier – contends that what Google is doing constitutes a blatant copyright infringement.
Google wants us to believe that not only is the law on its side – “fair use” and all – but that it is doing the work of angels in undertaking what is at its core a commercial project.
“Creating an easy-to-use index of books is fair use under copyright law and supports the purpose of copyright: to increase the awareness and sales of books, directly benefiting copyright holders,” said David Drummond, Google’s general counsel, in a statement. “This short-sighted attempt to block Google Print works counter to the interests of not just the world’s readers, but also the world’s authors and publishers.”
Funny how so many of the world’s authors and publishers don’t see how Google’s doing them a great favor.
Google also wants us to believe that it is simply impractical to obtain permission from authors and publishers before copying their copyrighted works and including them in the index.
Funny how Google competitor Yahoo is in the midst of a similar book-indexing project and is doing so with the express permission of copyright holders. And let’s not forget that Google has enough cash on hand to do pretty much anything it considers important.
Google has agreed to let publishers and authors decline to have their work included in Google Print, in a clear but futile attempt to soften opposition. What’s not clear is why the company would bother to offer such an opt-out option if its lawyers are so convinced that the fair-use gambit will hold up in court.
This isn’t about fair use. As is the case in virtually every serious legal dispute, this one is all about the money. While Google Print may one day prove to be as valuable a public resource as the local library, there’s no getting around the fact that it is first and foremost a commercial enterprise.
“While authors and publishers know how useful Google’s search engine can be and think the Print Library could be an excellent resource, the bottom line is that under its current plan Google is seeking to make millions of dollars by freeloading on the talent and property of authors and publishers,” says AAP President and former Colorado Congresswoman Patricia Schroeder.
Meanwhile, bloggers also are beginning to wonder if having Google on hand to help is any better than having a government agent knocking at the door.
Google’s free Blogger service has been so wildly successful that virtually anyone can join in the fun – including hordes of spammers, or sploggers as they’re known in the blogosphere. While phony blogs (splogs) have been a nuisance for some time, the nuisance erupted into a menace last week with the use of automated blog-generating software resulting in thousands of splogs that rendered blog search results practically useless.
The firestorm of criticism directed at Google included calls for pulling the plug on Blogger. You can get a sense of what’s happening on the front lines of this battle by visiting Fighting Splog. Google’s take can be read here.
By week’s end Google had apparently made a bit of progress in stemming the flow, but critics were not exactly raising glasses over the results.
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