Google Book Settlement

The great folks over at New York Law School who put together the “D Is For Digitize” conference on the Google Book Settlement have uploaded video recordings of all the sessions (click on linked program titles to go to the video). OITP’s Carrie Russell spoke at Friday’s “P is for Public” session. In addition, Peter Hirtle has written up nice summaries of the proceedings (click through for day 2, 3). Thanks again to James and NYLS for hosting this thought-provoking and well-organized event. Also, check out Daniel Reetz’s public domain photos of the DIY portable book scanner he demoed at the conference.

Via EFF:

Today EFF along with the ACLU and the privacy authors and publishers they represent, the American Library Association, the Association of Research Libraries and the Association of College and Research Libraries, CDT, EPIC, SFLC, Professor James Grimmelman sent a joint letter to Google urging it to include privacy protections along with its reconsidered Google Book Search Settlement.

The joint letter asks Google to take this time to implement the privacy suggestions made by EFF and others, noting author Jonathan Lethem’s statement: “now is the moment to make sure that Google Book Search is as private as the world of physical books. If future readers know that they are leaving a digital trail for others to follow, they may shy away from important but eccentric intellectual journeys.”

GBS Privacy Group Letter to Google