Google Book Project Needs Privacy Plan
Google should commit to a strong privacy regime as part of its effort to digitize mass quantities of books before a fairness hearing this fall on a $125 million settlement the company reached with publishers, the Center for Democracy and Technology said in a Monday report. The paper asks the court to approve the Google Book Search settlement but to retain oversight in order to monitor implementation of a privacy plan. U.S. District Judge Denny Chin has scheduled a hearing for Oct. 7 and the Justice Department formally acknowledged an investigation into Google's settlement earlier this month.
"The new service will considerably increase public access to millions of books containing much of the world's written knowledge and ideas and will transform how the public conducts research, interacts with written text and shares information and ideas with others," CDT President Leslie Harris said in a press release. Libraries have a long history of protecting reader privacy and safeguarding the right to read anonymously; the report highlights how Google -- which helps fund CDT's work -- can best adapt to its new role as traditional library functions are centralized and moved online, the analysis stated. Read the report here (PDF).
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