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The Tragedy of Google Books (2017) (theatlantic.com)

503 points by lispybanana · 654 days ago · 179 comments on HN

Article summary

Google's project to scan every book in the world, codenamed 'Project Ocean', began in 2002 and aimed to create a universal digital library. The project scanned around 25 million books, but was met with lawsuits from authors and publishers alleging copyright infringement. The project's goal was to allow users to search books and read snippets, but it was ultimately rejected by a US court. The article discusses the history and implications of the project, as well as the complexities of copyright law and the role of technology in preserving culture and knowledge.

Main themes

  • Digital libraries
  • Copyright law
  • Book scanning
  • Google's Project Ocean
  • Knowledge preservation
  • Intellectual property

What commenters say

  • The current copyright system is outdated and should be revised to allow for the digitization and sharing of out-of-print works.
  • Publishers are more interested in maintaining their exclusive rights to a work than in making it widely available, even if it is no longer profitable.
  • Google's scanning of books without permission was a violation of copyright law and could set a dangerous precedent for the exploitation of authors' work.
  • The responsibility for preserving culture and knowledge should not be left to private companies like Google, but rather should be a collective effort by public libraries and institutions.
  • Requiring publishers to actively sell a work in order to maintain copyright could lead to abuse, such as listing a work for sale at an inflated price in order to maintain control.
  • The use of digital rights management (DRM) to restrict access to ebooks could hinder the preservation of knowledge and culture.
  • Authors' rights should revert to them if a work is out of print for a certain period of time, allowing them to control how their work is used and distributed.
  • The training of large language models on copyrighted works without permission or compensation to the original rights holders is a serious concern and potentially illegal.