EFF weighs in on Google Books Settlement

This just in from the Electronic Frontier Foundation with most of their call shown after the “read more” jump:

We are putting together a group of authors (or their heirs or assigns)

who are concerned about the Google Book Search settlement and its effect

on the privacy and anonymity of readers. In particular, we are looking

for authors who fear that Google’s tracking of online book browsing,

reading, and purchase will have a “chilling effect” on their readership.

We are also interested in hearing from authors who themselves might feel

chilled in their own online reading habits if Google is allowed to track

every page or paragraph they read. We plan to file papers with the court

on behalf of those authors that object to any settlement that fails to

provide the same privacy protections for readers in the digital world

that apply to reading physical books from libraries, bookstores, etc.

These include protections from subpoenas, law enforcement

investigations, and other forms of surveillance and profiling.

Note: In order to participate, you must still own rights in some or all

of a “book.” For how the settlement defines a “book,” see below. (Yes,

we recognize that defining a book to an audience of authors is a bit

surreal, but the court will pay careful attention to this definition, so

we have to pay close attention to how it is worded.)
Deadline: All authors must have given us affirmative approval to file

on their behalf by Aug. 15th. Send your approval, plus a list of the

books you own rights to, to: [email protected]

. We’d also appreciate a short note about why

you think anonymity and privacy for your readers is important to the

market for your work or to your own reading habits.
The Settlement Basics:

Google and the Authors Guild have negotiated a settlement of the Google

Book Search class action that will set up an arrangement by which

millions of books will be scanned by Google and made available to the

public under one of three mechanisms (called Preview Use, Consumer Use

and Institutional Subscription). The settlement has financial

arrangements and outlines how the three mechanisms are to be set up and

what rights readers and authors will have under them. Google and the

Authors Guild will be asking a federal court to approve the settlement

in October, 2009, and any objections to it are due on September 4, 2009.

You can read more about the settlement here:

http://books.google.com/booksrightsholders/
The Problem:
The agreement has no protections in it for reader privacy or anonymity.

None. Neither the Author’s Guild nor Google has taken any steps in the

context of this landmark agreement for the future of books, to ensure

that the fundamental right of readers to privacy and anonymity of their

reading habits are preserved. Our goal is to remedy that by asking the

court to disapprove the settlement until it has sufficient protections

for authors and their readers.
Background:

In the analog world, it is possible to keep what you read private

because it is practically difficult to track and because there are legal

and ethical protections in place. Courts impose high standards on law

enforcement and others seeking access to reading records because the

right to read anonymously is tied to the right to speak anonymously. In

addition, librarians have a professional ethical responsibility to

protect patron privacy. However, as traditional print materials have

moved onto the internet, the practical protections of public libraries

have diminished and the legal protections are less clear. Google’s

current practices show it is capable of compiling “dossiers” that reveal

our identities in intimate detail. These “dossiers” may be shared across

Google products or with partners, civil litigants and law enforcement

without clear standards for review. While Google may not intend any

nefarious actions, any settlement that is to be approved by the court to

clear the way for Google to create the world’s largest repository of

digital books and likely the only access channels to those works in

digital form, must affirmatively contain protections for reader privacy

and anonymity.
Who can join us:

Authors who are concerned about reader privacy. We can only represent

people who are members of the class, so that means that they must meet

the terms laid out here:

http://books.google.com/booksrightsholders/
The short version is that they must either be the author, heirs or

assigns of a “book,” which is defined as a written or printed work that

meets the following three conditions on or before January 5, 2009:
 * It was published or distributed to the public or made available

on sheets of paper bound together in hard copy form for public

access under the authorization of the work’s U.S. copyright

owner; and

* It was registered with the U.S. Copyright Office, UNLESS the

work is not a “United States work” under the U.S. Copyright Act,

in which case such registration is not required; and

* It is subject to a U.S. copyright interest (either through

ownership, joint ownership, or an exclusive license) implicated

by a use authorized, or for which compensation could be payable,

by the Settlement.
How to join:

Send an email to [email protected] giving us:
1)Your name

2) Books you have authored (or for which you are the heir or assign)

3) If you’d like, a short explanation about why reader privacy is

important to you, either as an author or as a reader

4) How best to contact you if we have questions or need to provide you

with updates on the case