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Essay on Is Google Evil?

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Google has proposed an agreement with representatives of authors and publishers to host a massive digital library. This library will consist of mostly books published in the United States. Google will make digitally available new and old books. This catalog will include books that are no longer in print and “orphan” texts (books where the copyright owner is unknown or contact information is unavailable).5 The texts will be available through search engines, for individual sale as electronic-books, and with database subscriptions. If the Google agreement is approved by the Justice Department, ethical issues would come into question. The issues addressed in this paper include whether the agreement creates a “legally sanctioned cartel for …show more content…

An example of a smaller less capable competitor is the Internet Archive which is only concerned with the copy right of “orphan” books. The public is the largest group that will be affected. People will benefit tremendously from this digital catalog but could suffer in terms of privacy, cost and innovation if Google is the sole information access provider.
The public would benefit by having immediate access to numerous texts in almost every subject; libraries would no longer be limited to what can be stored on shelves. Researchers would be able to access information instantly, enabling them to work faster, smarter and more efficiently towards their goal. Arguably the most beneficial part of a digital library would be instant translation. Texts of all genres could be read by millions of people who could not overcome the language barriers previously. Not only would translations of spoken language be possible but brail libraries could be expanded with a few key clicks.
Although Google is expected to share revenue with both publishers and authors, there is no provision in the current agreement to limit price inflation. Even with reasonable cost, who gets money for the millions of books with unknown rights-holders? Would Google agree to abide by the orphan works legislation or use the books rights registry as an example and hold the money in escrow for later distribution to rights holders after they have been located? Some

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