According to linguist Geoffrey Nunberg, Google’s book search is well on its way to becoming “the world’s largest digital library” — but not without controversy. Tuesday is the last day to file comments with a U.S. District Court on a class action lawsuit between Google and several authors and publishers. Google has reached a settlement with these industry partners, and hopes to build its online library as a service to the public good. But opponents of the deal claim it gives Google a monopoly over digitized books. We discuss the settlement and what it means for authors.
Guests:
Edward Hasbrouck, writer and co-chair of the Books Division for The National Writers Union, which opposes the Google Books settlement
Tom Krazit, staff writer for CNET.com
Pamela Samuelson, professor at UC Berkeley's Boalt Hall School of Law
James Gleick, author and board member of the Authors Guild
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