Civil rights activists champion Google book deal

IDG News Service - A proposed settlement allowing Google Inc. to digitize millions of books will have huge benefits for minority populations and their access to valuable information, a group of civil rights leaders and educators said today.

The Google book settlement, scheduled to be reviewed in an Oct. 7 court hearing, would allow Google to scan and make available scores of books, including millions of out-of-print titles. The digitized books will give minorities and poor people new access to titles that were formerly only available at large university libraries, supporters of the deal said during a forum at the Howard University School of Law in Washington.

"The idea that a student in Boston at a very exclusive private school can read the same books that a student somewhere in an underfunded, urban public school, that they can have the same access to the same materials is actually just amazing," said Professor Rhea Ballard-Thrower, law librarian at the Howard law school. "Books are the great equalizer."

Among those speaking in favor of the digital books settlement negotiated between Google and book authors and publishers were officials with the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, the League of United Latin American Citizens and the National Federation of the Blind.

"This project is part of a larger effort to democratize knowledge," Wade Henderson, president and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, said during a forum on the book settlement. "To me, this project is so crucial because it helps to level the playing field at the most fundamental intersection of rights, knowledge and advocacy."

The speakers at the Howard event urged Judge Denny Chin of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York to approve the deal, despite several objections to the settlement, which was announced last October.

In early July, the U.S. Department of Justice said it was investigating the settlement and Google's Book Search product for possible antitrust violations. Several groups have complained that the settlement could give Google the power to monetize so-called orphaned works, books still under copyright protection but for which no one claims ownership.

Last week, the Electronic Frontier Foundation urged its members to contact Google and demand that privacy protections are included in its Book Search project. Google must ensure against government snooping into the book records and should track book records for less than 30 days, the EFF said.

Earlier this week, the Center for Democracy and Technology, a digital rights group that receives some funding from Google, called for Chin to require several conditions as part of the settlement, including privacy safeguards.