Googlevil and books
How authors are responding to the Google book thing:
Thousands of authors opt out of Google book settlement (Guardian UK)
Seems they are not thrilled with Google’s fine print. I dare say I don’t blame them. Here’s a quote from author Gwyneth Jones:
I decided to opt out of the Google book settlement on the advice of my agency, David Higham Associates, and on the advice of Gill Spraggs, who had read the small print. Then I was inspired to read the small print too, and I didn’t like what I found. Google’s preemptive action has ‘turned copyright law on its head’. It seems they plan, unilaterally, to take ownership away from the writer, and the ownership doesn’t pass to the readers (fat chance!) but to a giant profit-making corporation. A vast entity allegedly intent on ‘doing nothing evil’ has simply decided this will be so, and then hired a fleet of lawyers to make it happen.
Everywhere you turn, Googlevil rears its head.
