Debates rise over plans for full books on Internet

KRISTIN MORGAN STO02013@BYUI.EDU scroll staff

Debates rise over Google and Yahoo’s plans to make copyrighted works available on the Internet through new online libraries.

Google first began work on the program in 2004 by constructing deals with universities, including Harvard, Oxford and the University of Michigan to digitalize books and make them searchable through the Internet search engine.

“The idea is to create a permanent library that’s available to everybody. You can take a classic work of American literature, download it, print it and even bind it if you want to,” said Internet Archive founder Brewster Khale.

The Author’s Guild and individual writers have sued the Internet Company for infringement of copyright laws, which has halted Google’s project.

Some critics agree that supporting Google’s plan is to say, “It’s OK to break into my house because you’re going to clean my kitchen. Just because you do something that’s not harmful or beneficial doesn’t make it legal,” said Sally Morris, chief executive of the U.K.-based Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers.

Last month, Yahoo announced that it plans to rival Google’s plan of making books available through the Internet by introducing their own version.

Yahoo’s digital library will differ from Google’s in that they are paying to scan older, out of print titles and make them searchable not only through the Yahoo Web site, but also through a new Web site at www.opencontentalliance.org

The David O’McKay library on campus is not too concerned. Library Director Martin Raish said the books available on Google were published over 80 years ago, before copyright laws came into effect. Google will show the first several pages of a book, and then give information on where the book is available, either at local libraries or bookstores. “Its not ready for primetime yet folks,” Raish said.

Even BYU-Idaho students have taken a stand on the new Internet libraries.

“If it was there then I would probably use it. It’s a benefit to students because we don’t have to pay the money for the books, but it’s not good for the authors,” said Sarah Hobson, a senior from Boise.

“More good would come from it than bad,” Matt Jones, a sophomore from Dallas, said. “The books shouldn’t necessarily be free on the Internet, for the author’s sake, but should be cheaper than actually buying the book.”

The goal of both companies is to provide simpler access to millions of pages of material that search engines cannot index.