NNSquad - Network Neutrality Squad
[ NNSquad ] Google Books, Libraries, and a Visit with the Eloi
> (You didn't happen to see the familiar ranks of card > catalogs at UCLA, did you?) Actually ... the entire first floor of the Research Library is being refurbished, and there's a vast, dark, gaping emptiness where the card catalogs used to be. But I don't know if they were removed two weeks ago or decades ago! Projects such as Google Books (and keep in mind that I fully support the current Google Books Settlement) are so complex that they by definition must involve many interdisciplinary considerations. Are centralized, non-physical books potentially subject to both announced or secretive editing, deletions, modifications, and other manipulations -- that would be impractical with physical books in a library (beyond simply removing books from the physical shelves)? The answer is clearly yes, though the ability for individual users to keep personal electronic copies of books *assuming that these are not subject to remote modification or deletion* (recall the recent Amazon remote deletion case) will tend to undermine central authorities' ability to alter associated data without detection. Note also that there are other technological means to help avoid such problems. For example, centralized virtual book repositories could be designed so that any included work -- even entire collections or categories -- could be verified as "untampered" by anyone using published digital signature techniques. There are complexities to this with evolving collections and improving scanning techniques, but it's doable. Can online collections undermine public access in some cases? Yes. A potential problem is that online collections can be strictly access controlled (e.g., specialized journals and the like) in a manner that excludes public access. In the case of physical libraries, it's usually possible for any member of the public to physically inspect any such journals to which the library subscribes on an in situ basis. Can and will libraries provide for on-site online access to those journals by the public going forward? A largely open question right now. The privacy issues, and questions of calls to eliminate physical library book collections on economic grounds, have been widely discussed. Back in 2005, in "An Online Library from Science Fiction" ( http://bit.ly/cGZnVQ ), I noted Piers Anthony's prescient take on the ramifications of online vs. physical libraries when "sensitive" information is involved. But as in so many issues associated with what we now call "the cloud," we would be wise to consider not only the potential benefits and risks of using the cloud, but also the same considerations if we stay with the older paradigms. The cloud can potentially bring security and privacy risks -- but so can *not* using the cloud, especially given the average individual PC user's tendency to not pay much attention to such issues -- or backups -- on their own systems. A well-maintained central facility can in theory represent a single point for large-scale failure, but we know for certain that individual users are mucking up their systems badly -- and in the case of contaminated systems infecting other computers as well, every day, and in enormous numbers. Likewise, centralized virtual libraries have upsides and downsides, but there's a clear downside to physical books effectively hidden away where practically nobody can access them, their authors' words gradually turning to physical dust like a classic scene from "The Time Machine": http://bit.ly/a6OeuS (YouTube) No simple answers. But I want access to those books -- *before* they crumble into the air. Google Books, on balance, is a worthwhile effort toward that important end, deserving of support. --Lauren-- NNSquad Moderator - - - On 04/07 13:07, Lauren Weinstein wrote: > > ----- Forwarded message from Mike Spencer <mspencer@tallships.ca> ----- > > Date: Wed, 7 Apr 2010 16:16:12 -0300 > From: Mike Spencer <mspencer@tallships.ca> > Subject: Here We Go Again....Reportedly to Sue Over Google Books > > > How much better for everyone if these wonderful books could also be > > accessed by the world. > > Well, I dunno. Once they're digital, they're ephemeral, mutable. If > they can be accessed from a bedroom in Springfield or a bunker in the > Pyranees, they can be edited or destroyed from those locations. > > And once they're freely on-line, efficiency-minded MBAs everywhere > will demand that the costs of housing the *real* books be > eliminated. (You didn't happen to see the familiar ranks of card > catalogs at UCLA, did you?) > > In the new economic order, digital is for peons and the Great > Unwashed. Analog if for the elite. So if you want to repeat your > trip down memory lane when you're old, you better get ready to buy up > whole libraries as they're digitized and the obsolete hardcopies > "externalized" to wealthy fanatics or the pulper. > > > FWIW, > - Mike > > -- > Michael Spencer Nova Scotia, Canada .~. > /V\ > mspencer@tallships.ca /( )\ > http://home.tallships.ca/mspencer/ ^^-^^ > > ----- End forwarded message -----