Publisher steals Google laptop to "prove point"

LincLinc OwnerDetroit Icrontian
edited June 2007 in Science & Tech
At a conference last week, a book publisher snatched two Google laptops from their stand and held them nearby for over an hour before they noticed and asked for them back.

The publisher did it to make a point: Just as they didn't like their laptops stolen, neither do publishers like their content stolen by the Google Books project.

It seems like maybe, just maybe, that might be oversimplifying the situation a bit, so as usual you can read a <a href="http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070608-book-exec-steals-google-laptops-to-teach-lesson-about-theft.html">more in-depth analysis on Ars</a>.

Comments

  • JengoJengo Pasco, WA | USA
    edited June 2007
    Just another reason to dislike google. Its like they are turning into microsoft...
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited June 2007
    It's almost like you didn't read the analysis.
  • JengoJengo Pasco, WA | USA
    edited June 2007
    my point is... google and microsoft (two giant companies) love making people mad, and they just get away with it.

    Yes 2 sentences arent very much per book, but those 2 sentences are work of the author, something they dont have rights to.
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited June 2007
    If the book is under copyright and still in print, Google Book Search will only show selections from it that are authorized by the publisher.
  • airbornflghtairbornflght Houston, TX Icrontian
    edited June 2007
    I don't see the big deal. Quite honestly I thought it was legal to take excerpts from books. And tbh, why not sell the books digitally for 5 or 10 dollars? Once you remove the variable and fixed costs of publishing you could actually sell a pdf of a book fairly cheaply. But then we will have a whole new DRM monster to deal with most likely. Hell, digital media ought to be FREE, information wants to be free. I'm going to IRC.
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