Google book scanning: Cultural theft or freedom of information?; CNN, 2/8/10

CNN; Google book scanning: Cultural theft or freedom of information?:

"A proposed partnership between the French government and Google is stoking fears in France that the country's literary treasures will fall under commercial control of a U.S. technology company.

Frederic Mitterand, the French minister of culture, has said that Google came to France with "the attitude of a conqueror" signing "unacceptable" and "one-sided" deals.

He told Le Monde newspaper that the deals involved "excessive confidentiality, impossible exclusivity and casual --even leonine --clauses on copyright."

For some, however, Mitterand's reaction is puzzling -- including one of the libraries concerned. Believing that access to their archives can promote French culture, the city of Lyon's library has signed an agreement with Google, hoping to scan as many as 500,000 books in 10 years.

The first text uploaded online was a rare 16th century collection of doomsday predictions from the French philosopher Nostradamus.

Under the Lyon Library contract, Google will scan its books and manuscripts for free. In exchange, the library gives Google the right to use the scanned documents commercially for the next 25 years.

"I find it normal and good that that book is scanned in Lyon where it was written. So I don't see the problem between using a method developed in the U.S. to promote heritage and culture in France or Europe. I don't understand the problem," Patrick Bazin, Director of the Lyon Library, told CNN.

The library's collection includes national literary treasures and collectibles, such as a 16th century bible, in 12 languages.

That means security is a top concern and Google is therefore keeping the location of its scanning secret.

"By putting them on the Internet, much larger circles of society, including non-specialists, can read these works and enjoy them and find them useful," Bazin added.

"They are works that touch upon all sorts of subjects of life, of the universe," he continued.

"They concern everyone and so they matter to everyone, and so they have to be made available to everyone by scanning them."

At the national level, officials like Mitterand have expressed a strong preference to keep the digitizing an internal affair, and even develop a rival to Google. So far the government has earmarked $1 billion dollars to boost its own online database, known as Gallica.

However, in January, an independent review for the French culture ministry criticized the lack of progress made by Gallica, and recommended a public-private partnership with Google.
Since starting in 1997, Gallica has scanned less than one million documents and about 145,000 books, according to the UK's Financial Times newspaper.

At the same time, the report concluded that deals between Google and libraries around Europe were disproportionately favorable for Google, and a better distribution would need to be brokered without the exclusivity clauses for France.

Philippe Colombet, the head of Google Books in France, has said in the past that exclusivity was needed to guarantee a return on the investment of scanning, but that he welcomes a partnership with the state.

In a statement emailed to CNN, Colombet reiterated "Google's commitment to work more than ever in partnership with publishers and other actors in the book industry to help create a virtuous ecosystem for books in the digital era."

Currently Google has seven library partners in Europe, including Lyon. It is only scanning out-of-copyright works in Europe.

While the final details remain to be hammered out, the pace of Google's process makes it hard to eschew.

Google has already scanned more than 12 million books into its global index since the Google Books project launched at the Frankfurt Book Fair in 2004."
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/europe/02/08/google.livres.france/

Nicolas Sarkozy fights Google over classic books; Telegraph, 12/14/09

Henry Samuel, Telegraph; Nicolas Sarkozy fights Google over classic books:

Nicolas Sarkozy has vowed to keep Google's hands off France's classic books and national treasures by spending £680 million making them available on the internet.

"The French president made the announcement amid a row between the internet giant and publishers, who claim Google has breached their copyright by scanning books for its online library Google Books.

Mr Sarkozy said the sum would go towards the "digitisation of the content of our museums, our libraries and our cinematographic heritage".

He added: "There is no question of letting this heritage go."

The package was part of his government's "grand loan" – a £31 billion spending spree he detailed on Monday aimed at boosting France's economic growth and competitiveness.

The pledge followed Mr Sarkozy's warning last week that he would not allow Google to carry out a massive literary land grab on French and other European literature.

"We are not going to be stripped of our heritage for the benefit of a big company, no matter how friendly, big or American it is," he said.

"We are not going to be deprived of what generations and generations have produced in the French language just because we weren't capable of funding our own digitisation project."

Jean-Noël Jeanneney, a former chief of the national library recently warned recently that the French Revolution risked being given an "Anglo-Saxon" slant if Google prevailed – one in which "valiant British aristocrats triumphed over bloodthirsty Jacobins and the guillotine blotted out the rights of man."

Google, based in California, recently unveiled plans recently to scan books and make them digitally searchable online. It argues almost all the books digitised are in the public domain and that it will pay copyright on any still in private hands.

The Paris publishing group, La Martinière, took Google to court after it discovered the firm had scanned and archived books on which La Martinière holds the copyright. A ruling is expected on Friday. Seuil has also sued Google for copyright breach.

Marissa Maya, Google's number three last week last week denied stealing French heritage. "I think our service is very poorly understood," she said.

"The advantage of this work is precisely to conserve literature and allow people to access it. Right now we're simply the most advanced company in this area." In his speech at the Elysée yesterday, Mr Sarkozy said that public groups like Google could be part of the venture but the state would be very much in charge.

The money is expected to go to boosting Gallica, France's own book-scanning project, which is linked to Europeana, the EU's digital library."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/google/6811462/Sarkozy-fights-Google-over-classic-books.html