[27029] in Public-Access_Computer_Systems_Forum
FYI France EXTRA: GoogleBooks, the Settlement
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Jack Kessler)
Wed Sep 9 21:43:53 2009
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Date: Wed, 9 Sep 2009 17:53:53 -0700
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From: Jack Kessler <kessler@WELL.COM>
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FYI France EXTRA: GoogleBooks, the Settlement
GoogleBooks is much in the news, right now, in France as=20
elsewhere -- particularly with its impending judicial Fairness=20
Hearing, in New York October 7, deciding the Settlement it has=20
negotiated with (all?) authors and (all?) publishers...
I've just posted a "conference report with comments" about an=20
excellent academic discussion just held, with GoogleBooks=20
"assisting", at UC Berkeley on August 28 -- now online at,
=09=09http://fyifrance.com/f102009b.htm
The issues seem stark:
=09"the GoogleBooks Saga -- which is, by turns, either the
=09glorious democratization of all the world's 'texts' -- or
=09a globalization conspiracy to dominate same, both de jure
=09at home in the US and de facto everywhere else..."
-- but like any such digital development there is far more=20
involved than can be described in short headlines.
My hope is that, by "joining in the debate" of the Berkeley=20
conference, readers here will be able to get a sense of some of=20
the broader issues involved -- academics are good at that -- in=20
greater depth than the dry legal language of most news reports=20
has been able to convey.
The buildup in la presse has been extraordinary: a sampling -- (I=20
am experimenting with TinyURLs here, so if you'd like the full=20
URLs please see http://fyifrance.com/f102009b.htm) --
=09* Feb 12, Jun 12: Harvard Librarian & France scholar
=09Robert Darnton's two New York Review of Books articles
=09http://www.fyifrance.com/Fyarch/fy080715.htm
=09http://www.fyifrance.com/Fyarch/fy090315.htm
=09* Aug 10, Aug 19: UC Berkeley law professor & digital
=09rights expert extraordinaire Pamela Samuelson's two
=09articles, in The Huffington Post
=09http://tinyurl.com/kuudr5
=09http://tinyurl.com/lhsscd
=09* Aug 13: style-feuilleton Appeal against GoogleBooks
=09leveled unanimously, and lodged with the court, by the 21
=09members of the University of California faculty's
=09Academic Council
=09http://tinyurl.com/mrtavw
=09* Aug 27: Former Biblioth=E8que nationale de France
=09pr=E9sident Jean-No=EBl Jeanneney's irate article in "Le Figaro"
=09http://tinyurl.com/lj2u3x
=09* Sep 4 [extended to Sep 8]: Deadline for filing an
=09objection, with the court, or a notice of intent to
=09appear at the Fairness Hearing
=09http://tinyurl.com/6kc6hx
=09http://tinyurl.com/lxq47t
=09http://tinyurl.com/btu52f
=09* Sep 7: European Commission hearing on the GoogleBooks Settlement
=09http://tinyurl.com/mnat3w
=09* Oct 7: The GoogleBooks Settlement Fairness Hearing, US
=09(federal) District Court, Southern District of New York...
-- so now the EC is involved, as well.
I am a GoogleBooks optimist -- but there are GoogleBooks=20
pessimists out there too, in abundance -- plus sceptics of every=20
variety, as for any event of such significance, the advent of=20
what one UC Berkeley sceptic now labels "The Last Library",=20
there really should be.
So, read the "conference report", savor the discussion,=20
participate if & where & when you can; this particular digital=20
development will affect us all -- vous tous, et nous autres --=20
going forward.
And coming, in the first issue of the Fall on September 15:
=09"FYI France: Google, Views from France!"
And a very happy rentr=E9e to all!
Jack Kessler, kessler@well.sf.ca.us
=09 *
=09 | =09=09FYI France (sm)(tm), since 1992
=09 | =09=09email: kessler@well.sf.ca.us
=09 | =09=09fax:=09415-282-0464
=09 / \ =09=09phone:=09415-282-4850 (messages)
=09 -----=09=09postal: PO Box 460668
=09 // \\ =09=09San Francisco, California
=09---------=09=09USA 94146
// \\=09W3:=09http://www.fyifrance.com
=09POZZO:
=09Autrefois, il dansait la farandole, le tango, le slow
=09et m=EAme le twist. Il bondissait. Maintenant il ne fait
=09plus que =E7a. Savez-vous comment il l'appelle ?...
=09La danse du filet. Il se cro=EEt emp=EAtr=E9 dans un filet...
=09=09=09-- Beckett, "En attendant Godot" (1952)
=09=09=09=09--oOo--
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