decoration decoration
Stories

GROKLAW
When you want to know more... 		decoration
For layout only
Home
Archives
Site Map
Search
About Groklaw
Awards
Legal Research
Timelines
ApplevSamsung
ApplevSamsung p.2
ArchiveExplorer
Autozone
Bilski
Cases
Cast: Lawyers
Comes v. MS
Contracts/Documents
Courts
DRM
Gordon v MS
GPL
Grokdoc
HTML How To
IPI v RH
IV v. Google
Legal Docs
Lodsys
MS Litigations
MSvB&N
News Picks
Novell v. MS
Novell-MS Deal
ODF/OOXML
OOXML Appeals
OraclevGoogle
Patents
ProjectMonterey
Psystar
Quote Database
Red Hat v SCO
Salus Book
SCEA v Hotz
SCO Appeals
SCO Bankruptcy
SCO Financials
SCO Overview
SCO v IBM
SCO v Novell
SCO:Soup2Nuts
SCOsource
Sean Daly
Software Patents
Switch to Linux
Transcripts
Unix Books

Gear

Groklaw Gear

Click here to send an email to the editor of this weblog.

You won't find me on Facebook

Donate

Donate Paypal

No Legal Advice

The information on Groklaw is not intended to constitute legal advice. While Mark is a lawyer and he has asked other lawyers and law students to contribute articles, all of these articles are offered to help educate, not to provide specific legal advice. They are not your lawyers.

Here's Groklaw's comments policy.

What's New

STORIES
No new stories

COMMENTS last 48 hrs
No new comments

Sponsors

Hosting:
hosted by ibiblio

On servers donated to ibiblio by AMD.

Webmaster
Ah! Google Books! Ah!
Thursday, August 31 2006 @ 02:55 PM EDT

As you may have read in the news, Google Books now has public domain books available for download, à la Project Gutenberg, except Google is more conservative, making available in their entirety only really, really dead authors from antiquity, and PG draws the line at 1923. I assume that's because Google got sick of being hit with stupid lawsuits by people who seem interested in getting some of their money, so not only must the author be dead, all his near relatives, business partners, and publishers need to be gone too, and the work has to be for sure, for real, no dispute about it in the public domain. Like Shakespeare dead.

Here's a BusinessWeek look at Google Books and the new initiative. You can download the public domain works and you can full-text search, which ought to improve CEO speeches at conferences and luncheons and settle many family arguments too. I actually thought it was Shakespeare who wrote, "Oh what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive" until I searched for it in Google Books. The public domain books are called Full View books, so that is how to search for them.

Seriously, this is ... well, awesome. I know my beloved librarian grandmother would be thrilled, if she were still living. Anything that advanced knowledge and its accessibility was valuable in her eyes.

The world has something now it has never had before in the history of the world. It's that significant. And it's that simple. Computers make full text search possible for all the classics in the world. Just think of how teachers can use this tool. And researchers. And you and me! What came to my mind when I read the news is the famous haiku, when the poet Basho first saw the beautiful Matsushima islands, and was at a loss for words, so awe-struck was he at the beauty:

Matsushima ah, Matsushima!
Ah, Matsushima, ah!
Matsushima, ah!

I hope the publishers out there will stop and really think about what they are trying to block and instead find a way to join those of us already settled in comfortably in the digital world, so they can find creative ways to benefit from technological change. I want you to make money, but the fundamental truth that must be faced is this: computers are copying machines. That is what they do. There is no changing that, and trying to sit on them and lock them up is counterproductive for everyone. There are ways to make money in any environment, but that isn't the way in this one.

Please look for new ways to make money. You can. That is what Google did. And that's all Google did. They understood the tech and they worked with it, instead of against it. Hire some geeks, and let them inform you. Then you can make money too, using technology instead of fighting it. If the only way to stay in business is to sue people, you probably need to rethink the business plan. And if it's your customers you must sue to stay in business, then you are doomed, as the RIAA is slowly discovering. Unfortunately, they are slow learners.

DRM will ultimately fail, I believe, precisely because it goes against and negates what technology now knows how to do so beautifully. And your customers hate it. Please look for business models that take advantage of the new capability, instead of pretending it hasn't happened or that the clock can be turned back.

And don't forget, Google also makes available books released under Creative Commons licenses, such as this one, "The Rise of Open Source Licensing - A Challenge to the Use of Intellectual Property in the Software Industry," by Mikko Valimaki, which is licensed under the Creative Commons license Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0.

Google Books is still beta, so here's some feedback for you. Titles that are long shouldn't be cut off. That's a small and fixable problem.

Google provides information on where to go to buy the book, if you'd prefer to have it in paper form, after you have read enough to know if you want to. Or you can download it and read it at your leisure or even print it out. It's a very good system, I think. People say no one will read a book on a computer, but I do. All the time.

Interestingly, Creative Commons is working on updating its licenses too, just like GPLv3, and they are debating a revised DRM clause. You might find it interesting to follow along.


  


Ah! Google Books! Ah! | 187 comments | Create New Account
Comments belong to whoever posts them. Please notify us of inappropriate comments.
Ah! Google Books! Ah!
Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, August 31 2006 @ 03:50 PM EDT
1923 is the magic "Mickey Mouse" line.

[ Reply to This | # ]

Buying without DRM
Authored by: mikeprotts on Thursday, August 31 2006 @ 03:50 PM EDT
I recently was asked by my son (15) to see if I could download Experimental
Film' by 'They Might be Giants'. I had a couple of free download coupons from
different sites, but both were MS Windows only, and even when I looked with
Windows neither had the song.

So I looked at the bands own site - it was available as a simple mp3 download.
So I paid and downloaded the track straight away - a happy customer.

I could probably have found this somewhere for free, but I will always be happy
to buy what I am looking for if it's available for a reasonable price, and with
no unreasonable restrictions.

Cheers
Mike

[ Reply to This | # ]

Off-topic here, please
Authored by: overshoot on Thursday, August 31 2006 @ 03:51 PM EDT
Previewed clicky HTML links are always appreciated.

[ Reply to This | # ]

Corrections Here
Authored by: SilverWave on Thursday, August 31 2006 @ 03:56 PM EDT
If Any :p

---
RMS: The 4 Freedoms
0 run the program for any purpose
1 study the source code and change it
2 make copies and distribute them
3 publish modified versions

[ Reply to This | # ]

In the digital age the value is in the audience
Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, August 31 2006 @ 04:06 PM EDT
Not in the copy. Product placement is one way. Product placement could be
updated too. The video could 'phone home' to get updated segments with new
product placements and updated scenes. That way the viewer would want to get
the new scenes and get the new placements at the same time. And it could all be
done with open source software and everything downloaded for free.

[ Reply to This | # ]

Books!
Authored by: Nick_UK on Thursday, August 31 2006 @ 04:10 PM EDT
I have stated this on here some time back re books and
Internet publishing.

I am an unfortunate Englishman that lives in England
relying on the chaotic train system we have here to get to
work - note I only travel 25 miles to work (and 25 miles
back).

Now, in any given week, I lose anywhere between 4 hours to
10 hours a week waiting at a station due to
cancelled/delayed/missed connections (or strikes).

I read a lot of books because of this (or in spite of
this)... but I don't buy new books (at between
£5.99/£10.99 a time)... oh no. I visit charity shops etc.
and buy 10/20 books at a time, usually at 50p/99p a time.
These are not old books, but verily new - sometimes you
get books that have just be published.

So why is there this distinction between 'recycled' books
in the physical sense and 'recycled books' in
the 'virtual' sense?

That I do not understand.

Nick

P.S. NOT for the faint hearted, this sums up the state of
public transport in the uk - it contains EXTREME swearing
and anybody offended by extremely bad language PLEASE DO
NOT VISIT - it is a spoof of the song 'Going Underground
by The Jam' flash movie.

If the above does not apply to you, this is brilliant[ly
funny] and sums it all up re UK train transport system.
http://www.backingblair.co.uk/london_underground/

[ Reply to This | # ]

Futility of DRM
Authored by: jmchugh on Thursday, August 31 2006 @ 04:17 PM EDT

I realize that most have probably seen this, but in case anybody still hasn't read/seen the talk that writer/EFF pal/BoingBoing editor Cory Doctorow gave regarding the futility of DRM:

LINK

(This talk was originally given to Microsoft's research group.)

John

[ Reply to This | # ]

Good article about DRM (repost)
Authored by: jaja on Thursday, August 31 2006 @ 05:05 PM EDT
I posted this in an off-topic thread a couple of days ago. I thought it would be more appropriate here so here it goes:

Death by DMCA

It's from the june issue of IEEE Spectrum

[ Reply to This | # ]

Shakespeare doesnt seem dead enough
Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, August 31 2006 @ 05:37 PM EDT
I tried searching for Hamlet or Romeo and Juliet and I couldn't find a copy of
the book that Google would let me download. Or if you search for
"author:shakespeare", all the books you find (at least on the first
page) are either snippet view, no preview or limited preview.. -- Tester

[ Reply to This | # ]

Ah! Google Books! Ah!
Authored by: CraigV on Thursday, August 31 2006 @ 06:00 PM EDT
I went and tried it out. Searching on my last name, I
quickly found my father referenced in a history about an
army training center where he taught artillery during
WW-I.

I had previously tried to get records of his WW-I
activities from the Veterans Administration, but was told
that they had had a devastating fire in their records
building many years ago and the records were destroyed.
Now, Google's efforts have given me a key document to add
to our family history!

Google scores another success. Compare this to
Micro$oft's attempt to corner the world's art.

[ Reply to This | # ]

Ugh! Google Books! Ugh!
Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, August 31 2006 @ 09:35 PM EDT
Tried it. A handful of titles available. Hopefully more in the future. My pdf
reader (not Adobe) glitched in the middle of downloading my first title. Now
when I try to reload this or another title I am greeted by the message:

"We're sorry...
... but your query looks similar to automated requests from a computer virus or
spyware application. To protect our users, we can't process your request right
now. "

And it does not support the "Save as" capability. It assumes that
everyone reads pdf files through browser plug-ins.

Lame. Very lame.

[ Reply to This | # ]

Ah! Google Books! Ah!
Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, August 31 2006 @ 09:49 PM EDT
I like that the Google Books interface preserves a bit of the physicality of the
original. For example:

http://books.google.com/books?vid=OCLC00644850&id=JeLZd9bXaSEC&pg=PT5&am
p;lpg=PR12&dq=einstein&as_brr=1

Makes one wonder who else might have read this copy?

[ Reply to This | # ]

Google: ODF demanded
Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, August 31 2006 @ 10:48 PM EDT
Not just Writely that sputs ODF as an afterthought, merely because it was an
acquisition.

Memo to Google: ODF and PDF NOW URGENT in Gmail, Calendar, Spreadsheets,
everywhere.

Or aren't the documents of Google customers a different kind of hostages behind
an unsurmountable private wall ?

[ Reply to This | # ]

Google's free ebooks are disappointing
Authored by: eckenheimer on Friday, September 01 2006 @ 02:40 AM EDT
I've been enjoying free public domain ebooks from Project Gutenberg and the World eBook Library for quite a few years. While you wait for Google to grow its eBook collection, you may want to browse Project Gutenberg's 19,000 free titles. The World eBook Library consortium boasts over 300,000 titles, but quite a few are duplicated among their more than 100 member libraries and collections.

It's not that what Google is doing isn't noteworthy, but it appears to have two major flaws. First, why digitize the works of Twain, Shakespeare and the same old Greek, Roman, and classic English authors yet again? How many digital versions of Tom Sawyer or Paradise Lost are really necessary? Google's project has potential, as their 5 University library partners and the NY public library undoubtably have some gems which aren't in digital form yet. But, it seems a shame that Google has begun by duplicating what's already readily available. I wish they'd coordinate with Project Gutenberg and others to actually add previously undigitized works to their ebook catalog.

The second flaw is more serious: Google ebook pages are pdf images. That's a good thing if you need to know how the printed book looks, and it works well for diagrams and illustrations. Unfortunately it prevents copying, editing, or searching the text. It also makes it impossible for students and other writers to cut and paste excerpts as quotations into new works. Finally, it means that Google ebooks can't be read by the visually impaired using text to speech software.

In contrast, all Project Gutenberg eBooks are available in plain text (ASCII), most in HTML, and some in a variety of other formats.

I think I'll contact Google with my concerns about their ebook project. It's just possible they might listen.

---
In a world without walls or fences, who needs windows or gates?

[ Reply to This | # ]

Reading books on computer - or handheld
Authored by: Anonymous on Sunday, September 03 2006 @ 11:38 AM EDT
PJ raises the point that many people don't like eBooks because they do not like reading a book on computer screen. There is a perfect technical solution to this problem, called e-Ink and there are already some hand-held devices on the market that utilize the technology:

http://www.learningcenter.sony.us/assets/pa/prs/index.html
http://www.irextechnologies.com/home
http://www.jinke.com.cn/compagesql/English/embedpro/prodetail.asp?id=20

Some quotes from www.eink.com:

"High resolution products which use E Ink® Imaging Film can be seen easily in direct sun, can be read at virtually any angle and are capable of very long battery life."

"Commonly referred to as Electronic Paper Displays, these displays are reflective and can be easily read in bright sunlight or dimly lit environments while being able to be seen at virtually any angle - just like paper."

[ Reply to This | # ]
Groklaw © Copyright 2003-2013 Pamela Jones.
All trademarks and copyrights on this page are owned by their respective owners.
Comments are owned by the individual posters.

PJ's articles are licensed under a Creative Commons License. ( Details ) 		Site layout based on Woodlands theme by Bryan Bell.
Groklaw logo by John Crowley.
News Picks logo by Ted Thompson.
Powered By GeekLog
Created this page in 0.04 seconds