“They know which books you search for. They know which books you browse through, they know how long you spend on each page.”
August 12th, 2009Via: NPR:
Google has been working on a monumental project to scan millions of library books and put them online. Many of those books are not yet readable, because of a copyright lawsuit filed by authors and publishers. That lawsuit has been tentatively settled, and if a judge approves the deal this fall, millions more books will be available to browse through and read.
It would be the world’s greatest virtual library. But some authors have mixed emotions about its effect on the act of reading.
Novelist Jonathan Lethem says Google should be “congratulated” for its effort. Lethem adds, “This is the moment to take a look and say, ‘why isn’t it as private as the world we’re being asked to leave behind, the world of physical books?'”
Lethem wonders whether future readers will have the same kind of relationship with books that he had.
“When I was on this very private, very eccentric, intense journey as a younger person, it was crucial that it be a solitary practice,” he says. But if future readers have reason to think they’re leaving a digital trail, he adds it might deprive the reading experience of its intimacy.
Lethem is one of several authors — including Michael Chabon and Cory Doctorow — who have signed on to a campaign to pressure Google Books to offer greater privacy guarantees for its readers. The effort was organized by the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
“They know which books you search for,” says Cindy Cohn, legal director for the foundation. “They know which books you browse through, they know how long you spend on each page.”
It’s the same kind of information that’s produced by someone surfing the Web. But Cohn believes books should enjoy greater privacy.
The EFF and the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California want Google to keep reader data for less time than normal web searches. Ideally, they say, the data should be deleted after a month.
Google says it shares their concern about readers’ privacy. “The regular Google privacy policy says that we do not disclose your personal information except in some narrow circumstances like emergencies and search warrants,” says Daphne Keller a company attorney.
I like this last paragraph…
“Google says it shares their concern about readers’ privacy. “The regular Google privacy policy says that we do not disclose your personal information except in some narrow circumstances like emergencies and search warrants,” says Daphne Keller a company attorney.”
Given that there are no longer any protections to speak of regarding the declaration of emergencies and certainly with regard to search warrants (NSL’s, etc.) it never fails to blow me away that they use the word “narrow” with a straight face. Understanding that it’s attorney/PR speak doesn’t really lessen the amazement, it amplifies it, I think.
This is some more bad juju for physical books and people who love them, that’s for sure.