That Google Book Settlement

Bulletin: Copyright Office Assails Google's Settlement on Digital Books

SAN FRANCISCO -- The nation's top copyright official made a blistering attack Thursday on a controversial legal settlement that would let Google create a huge online library and bookstore.

Now hear this from Techdirt: Complaints Against Google Book Scanning Project Reach Ridiculous Levels

A friend who also happens to be the author of two self-published books says he agrees with Techdirt entirely.

To me the whole settlement is idiotic. The point is not Google. It's the fact that search technology in general, regardless of who owns it (and I believe Google can't maintain dominance forever), makes copyright a laughing matter. When anyone can digitize anything, post it anywhere, and find it anyhow, does it matter who has the upper hand in copyright legislation? Not much.

Consequently, what people have to give up is the idea that one can earn money by artificially limiting the reproduction of a creative work that is infinitely reproducible. That business model didn't exist 200 years ago. It won't exist 200 years from now. The sooner you adapt to new realities, the better off you'll be. I believe this with my whole heart and am proud to have Google make my every word available to anyone who cares.

What if Google decides to censor me? There will be other alternatives. This isn't a Big Brother world anymore. It's a Billion Brothers world. If Google suppresses what I write, then I or somebody else will make it available in 300 other ways. And if we or they don't, then so what? It will have deserved to die.

It's black and white to me. I'm not saying it's not painful for people who currently make a living on the old business model. But it'll only be more painful if they try to fight it.

Thus spake Nostradamus.

In case you're wondering, a hefty Google dose of The Complete Prophecies of Nostradamus is readily available. But the type is too damned small. You'll have to buy the book to read it comfortably.