[ADS-L] DARE on Google Books

[Dave Wilton]

Google has deep pockets and is erring* on the side of caution. I think that
unless they get specific approval for the individual work, then they only
make portions available.

What we really need is a complete overhaul of copyright law in light of the
digital age. Something along the lines of if a work is not registered, the
copyright expires in 7 years. And once registered, require copyright holders
to make a positive affirmation every few years of their continued interest
in keeping a work out of the public domain. If they don't, the copyright
lapses and the work enters the public domain. If done right, this could be
all be done electronically over the internet and with a minimum of cost to
both the government and publishers.

This would allow a huge amount of material that has no market value to be
made widely available without fear of lawsuit. It would also solve the issue
of "orphaned" works to which no one knows whom the copyright belongs to.

* = Excessively, in my opinion, but they're the ones on the hook to pay if
they get sued. Also, given the size of Google Books and the fact that they
make money off the ads, they could be subject to criminal copyright
violations if they don't do it right.


-----Original Message-----
From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of
RonButters at AOL.COM
Sent: Friday, December 19, 2008 3:03 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re:       [ADS-L] DARE on Google Books

This is good news--and I know that you look forward to the day when HUP
moves
far enough beyond the 20th century actually to license research libraries to
make 100% of DARE available to patrons on the internet.

Google Books is sooooo weird. I recently tried to access an article in WORD
STUDY from the 1940s, reprinted from the Princeton Review. I could only get
bits and pieces of it. WHY? No one seems to know. I finally wrote to Merriam
and
someone there was quite willing to scan the whole article and send it to me.
Ditto the Princeton Review. GB seems to be protecting the copyright of
publishers who have no interest in having the articles protected. GB says
that they
scanned the WS article in the University of Michigan library. Could Michigan
be
objecting?

In a message dated 12/19/08 5:43:15 PM, jdhall at WISC.EDU writes:


> I thought you'd like to know that all four volumes of DARE are now
> accessible through a Google Books search. While the format is a "Limited
> Preview," it does allow one to see up to ten per cent of the total
> content within a thirty-day period. We're pleased that Harvard
> University Press was willing to agree to this, and NEH is also
> supportive of this move toward open access.
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
>




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