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Google Book Scanning Efforts Not Open Enough?
An anonymous reader writes to mention the Washington Post is reporting that the Open Content Alliance is taking the latest shot at Google's book scanning program. Complaining that having all of the books under the "control" of one corporation wouldn't be open enough, the New York-based foundation is planning on announcing a $1 million grant to the Internet Archive to achieve the same end. From the article: "A splinter group called the Open Content Alliance favors a less restrictive approach to prevent mankind's accumulated knowledge from being controlled by a commercial entity, even if it's a company like Google that has embraced 'Don't Be Evil' as its creed. 'You are talking about the fruits of our civilization and culture. You want to keep it open and certainly don't want any company to enclose it,' said Doron Weber, program director of public understanding of science and technology for the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation."
... and copyright extension then, since that is also dominating our culture now...?
yeah, thought not. copyright enforcement is only demanded by those who can control it, and it's sheer brilliance that they turned a civil law issue into a criminal one and thus got the gov't to pay the copyright holder's costs!
Google does not give those things away for free. It exchanges them in return for subjecting you to advertising, which they in turn sell to folks who want to show you advertising.
Gee, thanks for the class in Google 101. You miss the point that if google did not give them to you for nothing - i.e. no other requirement on your part, they could not get money from the advertisers. Thus giving it away is actually required in order to reap those benefits.