Google

I have just been reading an interesting article from the NY Times about Google so thought i would post it up, basically the article is split into two parts, the first part a discussion of a story which was run on cnet where a reporter had tried to find out as much about Google's C.E.O as possible through it's own search engine.. what is interesting is the way that Google responded to it by complaining to the editor of Cnet about disclosure of information and then went on to say that they would refuse to speak to anyone from Cnet for a year.. Hmm i can't quite get my head around that one, especially considering what Google's services are for..

And the rest of the article was talking about what Luke mentioned (i think) in lectures a few weeks ago about google trying to get digital copies of all the books from Harvard, Stanford and University of Michigan for its digital library and the implications this digitisation was going to have on books in general and the role of the publisher:

"The Association of American University Presses is less concerned about the bits from books that would appear in Google's search results than about digital copies of each work, infinitely reproducible, whose use and safekeeping would not be governed by an agreement with the copyright holder." (From the article)

And what i found most interesting about the article is the implications for university presses who rely on sales to university libraries and if this whole digital library takes off then only one copy would be enough for a university, or even a whole network of universities.. the head of the association of American University Presses reckons that this will lead to university presses charging $40,000 for one copy of the book.

Any thoughts?

Link to NY Times article

Original Cnet article

Blog entry by Luke on Lulu.com (which goes into similar issues associated with the digitisation of books)

P.S - When i read the article the first time it worked fine but when i went back to it it said i had to register to view which was a bit of a pain but it's free and is a pretty interesting read.