Letters to the Editor
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Google should change the law, not break it
It's hard not to be sympathetic; as an academic who routinely publishes without a thought of demanding payback for my labor, I would love to see Google index and make searchable the millions of books that are out of print and available only to those with a University pass.
But Google is breaking the law. If I were to digitize the text of a new book, and allow people to enter search terms on a website to find sentences contained therein, I would clearly be breaking the copyright law. Indeed, just by digitizing the text, and keeping it on more that one hard-drive, I would be breaking the law.
Is the law moral? I agree with Lessig: no, it is not. Copyright laws are restrictive, and the way they are built today, the paralyse our culture. I will not detail Lessig's arguments; people can read them elsewhere.
At the same time, however, the law applies to us all. Google should not be able to use its money and its influence to break it. If they want to do Google Print -- and I think they should -- they should work to change the laws. They should fund (ugh) lobbyists. They should run ads. They should support political candidates who oppose the big-money groups like Disney, the MPAA, and the RIAA, who are sucking the life from our culture, suppressing dissent, and making millions off of Steamboat Willie and corporation-friendly versions of hip-hop, rap and folk.