[27454] in Public-Access_Computer_Systems_Forum
FYIFrance: GoogleBooks, the digital library wars
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Jack Kessler)
Wed Dec 16 20:30:44 2009
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FYIFrance: GoogleBooks, the digital library wars
Robert Darnton has weighed in, once more, on the issues of=20
digital libraries, and Google, and book digitization -- and on=20
whether a sizeable portion of the world's intellectual property,=20
and of its history, are being handed over now to a giant American=20
corporation.
Here are a few excerpts from what he says: current issue, Dec 17,=20
of the New York Review of Books -- la lutte continue, news from=20
the front --
"Google and the New Digital Future"
By Robert Darnton
[First a remarkable foray into Deep Context: the sort of=20
intellectual flight of fancy so dear to the French and to those=20
who love them, yet too often incomprehensible to others -- still,=20
well-met and read by anyone wishing to understand where all this=20
GoogleBooks and digital library concern "really" fits -- from the=20
silver pen of the author of The Great Cat Massacre --]
> November 9 is one of those strange dates haunted by history. On=20
> November 9, 1989, the Berlin Wall fell, signaling the collapse=20
> of the Soviet empire. The Nazis organized Kristallnacht on=20
> November 9, 1938, beginning their all-out campaign against=20
> Jews. On November 9, 1923, Hitler's Beer Hall Putsch was=20
> crushed in Munich, and on November 9, 1918, Kaiser Wilhelm II=20
> abdicated and Germany was declared a republic.
> The date especially hovers over the history of Germany, but it=20
> marks great events in other countries as well: the Meiji=20
> Restoration in Japan, November 9, 1867; Bonaparte's coup=20
> effectively ending the French Revolution, November 9, 1799; and=20
> the first sighting of land by the Pilgrims on the Mayflower,=20
> November 9, 1620.
> On November 9, 2009, in the district court for the Southern=20
> District of New York, the Authors Guild and the Association of=20
> American Publishers were scheduled to file a settlement to=20
> resolve their suit against Google for alleged breach of=20
> copyright in its program to digitize millions of books... Not=20
> comparable to the fall of the Berlin Wall, you might say. True,=20
> but...
-- it's all part of, Darnton contends --
> Google's attempt to transform its digitizing of texts into the=20
> largest library and book-selling business the world has ever=20
> known.
-- after many months of discussion, and over 400 amicus briefs=20
and memoranda, the pluses and minuses of the project now are=20
apparent, Darnton says -- the plus-side --
> On the positive side, Google will make it possible for=20
> consumers to purchase access to millions of copyrighted books=20
> currently in print, and to read them on hand-held devices or=20
> computer screens, with payment going to authors and publishers=20
> as well as Google. Many millions morebooks covered by copyright=20
> but out of print, at least seven million in all, including=20
> untold millions of "orphans" whose rightsholders have not been=20
> identifiedwill be available through subscriptions paid for by=20
> institutions such as universities. The database, along with=20
> books in the public domain that Google has already digitized,=20
> will constitute a gigantic digital library, and it will grow=20
> over time... By paying a moderate subscription fee, libraries,=20
> colleges, and educational institutions of all kinds could have=20
> instant access to a whole world of learning and literature.
-- and a few of the many minuses, now-emerging from the many=20
debates --
> But will the price be moderate? The negative arguments stress=20
> the danger that monopolies tend to charge monopoly prices.=20
> Equally important, they warn that Google's dominance of access=20
> to books will reinforce its power over access to other kinds of=20
> information, raising concerns about privacy... The same=20
> dominance also raises questions about both competition... and=20
> commitment to the public good. As a commercial enterprise,=20
> Google's first duty is to provide a profit for its=20
> shareholders, and the settlement leaves no room for=20
> representation of libraries, readers, or the public in=20
> general...
-- yet it seems that, so far at least, the US courts still are=20
just "muddling through" --
> No courtroom drama took place on November [9 or] 13, because=20
> nothing happened other than the filing of the revised=20
> settlement -- call it GBS [Google Book Search] 2.0 to=20
> distinguish it from the original version of the settlement, GBS=20
> 1.0... GBS 2.0 will certainly be challenged by groups and=20
> individuals who claim they were not fairly represented in the=20
> classes of authors and publishers. The case may take years to=20
> work its way through the courts. Meanwhile, Google will go on=20
> digitizing; and as the legal situation evolves, it may devise=20
> further revisions of the settlement -- GBS 3.0, GBS 4.0, etc.
-- Darnton is greatly interested, as are most of us here, in the=20
international aspects of this local US legal squabble --
> The protests that came from Europe are the most revealing.=20
> Although they concentrate on issues of special importance to=20
> foreignersabove all, the incompatibility of American=20
> class-action suits with protection for copyright holders who=20
> are not Americansthey show how the settlement was seen from a=20
> distant perspective.
-- as some Europeans may not be aware, their own national=20
governments have become officially involved --
> The governments of France and Germany sent memorandums urging=20
> the court to reject the settlement "in its entirety" or at=20
> least insofar as it applied to their own citizens. Far from=20
> seeing any potential public good in it, they condemned it for=20
> creating an "unchecked, concentrated power" over the=20
> digitization of a vast amount of literature (this according to=20
> the French memorandum) and for doing so (according to the=20
> Germans) by a "commercially driven" agreement negotiated "in=20
> secrecy... behind closed doors by three interested parties, the=20
> Authors Guild, the Association of American Publishers and=20
> Google, Inc."
> In contrast to the commercial character of Google's enterprise,=20
> both governments stressed the higher values represented by=20
> their national literatures. The French began their memorandum=20
> by invoking Pascal, Descartes, Moli=E8re, Racine, and other=20
> writers through Camus and Sartre, while the Germans summoned up=20
> the line that led from Goethe and Schiller to Heinrich B=F6ll and=20
> G=FCnter Grass.
-- I find myself reaching to find the relevance of such cultural=20
chest-beating, nationalistic no less, to the Google undertaking,=20
extraordinary and far-reaching as the latter may be -- things=20
turn hysterical, perhaps -- it appears that to Darnton it seems a=20
stretch as well --
> Each country cited the number of its Nobel Prize winners in=20
> literature (France sixteen, Germany twelve), and each=20
> buttressed its case by other evidence of high-mindedness. The=20
> Germans insisted on Gutenberg and his contribution to "the=20
> spread of science and culture." The French cited the=20
> Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen from 1789=20
> and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948 in order=20
> to uphold the principle of "free access to information"=20
> threatened by Google's "de facto monopoly."
> It is an odd spectacle: foreign governments defending a=20
> European notion of culture against the capitalistic inroads of=20
> an American company, and submitting their case to Judge Denny=20
> Chin of the Southern District Court of New York. What Judge=20
> Chin, who grew up in Hell's Kitchen in a family of poor Chinese=20
> immigrants (and won a scholarship to Princeton University) made=20
> of it all is difficult to say. He did not tip his hand on=20
> November 13, nor did he say when a hearing would take place.
-- and Darnton, forever the raconteur, gets in some entertaining=20
digs --
> In playing the cultural card, the French emphasized the unique=20
> character of the book, "a product unlike other products"its=20
> power to capture creativity, to enrich civilization, and to=20
> promote diversity, which, they claimed, would be compromised by=20
> Google's commitment to commercialization. The Germans spoke in=20
> the name of "the land of poets and thinkers,"
:-)
> but they laid most stress on the right of privacy, which, they=20
> argued, Google could threaten by keeping data on who reads=20
> what.
The national governments have some ideas, about how Google's book=20
digitization project ought to turn out -- them plus a September 7=20
EC hearing attended by inter alia the International Federation of=20
Library Associations (IFLA), the European Bureau of Library,=20
Information and Documentation Associates (EBLIDA), and the Ligue=20
des Biblioth=E8ques Europ=E9ennes de Recherche (LIBER) -- and the US=20
government, too, is concerned about antitrust -- Darnton provides=20
succinct summmaries.
-- and Darnton has given the matter much thought himself --
> The most ambitious solution would transform Google's digital=20
> database into a truly public library... a national digital=20
> library equal to the needs of the twenty-first century. But it=20
> is not clear how Google would react to such a buyout...
-- or --
> a minimal solution could be devised for the private sector...=20
> the database would include only books in the public domain and=20
> orphan works... The work need not be done in haste. At the rate=20
> of a million books a year, we would have a great library, free=20
> and accessible to everyone, within a decade.
-- and then Darnton gets _really_ idealistic --
> And the job would be done right, with none of the missing=20
> pages, botched images, faulty editions, omitted artwork,=20
> censoring, and misconceived cataloging that mar Google's=20
> enterprise.
-- and he even sees a role for, *gasp*, librarians! --
> Bibliographers, who appear to play little or no part in=20
> Google's enterprise, would direct operations along with=20
> computer engineers. Librarians would cooperate with both in=20
> order to assure the preservation of the books, another weak=20
> point in GBS, because Google is not committed to maintaining=20
> its corpus, and digitized texts easily degrade or become=20
> inaccessible.
-- in sum, according to Darnton --
> We are agreed that something must be done to improve the=20
> nation's health. Why not do something to enrich its culture?
November 18, 2009 -- Darnton's Note:
[*]The texts of the documents can be consulted at=20
dockets.justia.com/docket/court-nysdce/case_no-1:2005cv08136/case_id-273913=
*.
New York Review of Books, Volume 56, Number 20 (December 17, 2009)
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/23518
Robert Darnton is a thinker and writer well worth following, on=20
all the above points:
* He is a leading historian, recognized on both sides of the Pond=20
as an authority on t intellectual history of Europe and=20
particularly of France...
* And his books sell well, per the old historians' adage about=20
the crucial difference there...
* And Darnton is at Harvard, after many fruitful years spent at=20
similarly-august institutions...
* And he is Director of Harvard's Library, which firmly removes=20
him from academe's ivory tower and throws him into the middle of=20
the GoogleBooks maelstrom, armed as few of us are with one of the=20
world's greatest research libraries, now 15+ million volumes=20
strong...
Well worth reading, then: Darnton provides intelligent and=20
well-informed syntheses of the mountain of legalistic=20
gobbledygook thus far assembled in the GoogleBooks skirmishes of=20
the digital library wars -- an author who knows the issues well,=20
particularly their increasingly multi-cultural and trans-national=20
dimensions, and who really can write --
Some previous sources -- Darnton on GoogleBooks
* September 8, 2009
"FYI France EXTRA: GoogleBooks, the Settlement"
http://www.fyifrance.com/Fyarch/fy090908.htm
* March 26, 2009
"Google & Books: An Exchange"
By Paul N. Courant, Ann Kjellberg, J. D. McClatchy, Edward=20
Mendelson, Margo Viscusi, Tappan Wilder et al. In response to=20
"Google & the Future of Books"
NYRB, Volume 56, Number 5, March 26, 2009
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/22496
* March 15, 2009
"FYI France: Darnton redux, on ebooks & digital libraries
&, now, The Google Settlement"
http://www.fyifrance.com/Fyarch/fy090315.htm
* February 12, 2009=20
"Google & the Future of Books"
By Robert Darnton NYRB, Volume 56, Number 2
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/22281
("La biblioth=E8que universelle, de Voltaire =E0 Google")
http://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/2009/03/DARNTON/16871
* July 15, 2008
FYI France: Darnton on digital libraries
http://www.fyifrance.com/Fyarch/fy080715.htm
So I expect this latest NYRB article, described initially here,=20
will not be Darnton's last usefully-demystifying pronouncement,=20
on GoogleBooks. And, for comparison and even some contrast, the=20
somewhat more sanguine views of this same author several years=20
ago may be of interest, too --
* "Interview: Robert Darnton", in Harvard University=20
Library Notes (July 2007) No. 1338.=20
http://hul.harvard.edu/publications/hul_notes_1338/interview_darnton.html
-- that was back when Google and the rest of us all were new at=20
this -- digital libraries, and digital information generally,=20
being nothing if not a "moving target", for all of us.
Merry Christmas!
Jack Kessler, kessler@well.com
=09=09=09=09--oOo--
FYI France (sm)(tm) e-journal ISSN 1071-5916
*
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| scale "information overload", by Jack Kessler.
/ \ Any material written by me which appears in
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=09Copyright 1992- , by Jack Kessler,
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=09=09=09=09--hjlm--
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