All of this Google bashing makes me sick. Google is trying to OPEN up the world’s content, including books. How can you call yourselves the “OPEN book alliance” if you’d rather keep Google’s (free!) book search SHUT?

My main concern has to do with competition and privacy concerns.

I believe that competition — and open access — can make for much more dynamic and ultimately useful products.

With respect to privacy, I like the fact that I can check out a book from the library and return it with none-the-wiser. Google routinely searches my emails and web searches and begins pestering me with ads. That truly irks me. It would be far worse if one of the few respites from the ad-addled life — books — becomes just another extension of the advertising machine.

If Google wants to scan all those books, go ahead. But don’t try to sell me something and don’t tell others what I’m reading. Amazon does that enough…

Writers and publishers (including self-publishers) of “books” including out-of-print-books (and actually including many magazines, journals, chapbooks, ephemera, etc.), have until 4 September 2009 to decide what to do about a proposed settlement of m…