Google Books' Archenemy Formally Launches

Last week, Feeling Lucky mentioned that three of Google's (GOOG) arch-rivals—Microsoft (MSFT), Amazon (AMZN), and Yahoo (YHOO)—were planning to join the growing coalition that opposes the search giant's plan to digitally archive and sell copies of virtually every book ever published in the history of the world. Yesterday, that coalition formally launched itself. It's called the Open Book Alliance, and it's led by antitrust lawyer Gary Reback and Peter Brantley, the head of the Internet Archive, a nonprofit that seeks to compile a similar online library, but isn't covered by the class action settlement between Google and the Authors' Guild and the Association of American Publishers. From now till the case is finally resolved by the Justice Department and federal courts, the Alliance will lobby everyone from government officials to members of Congress and the public, seeking to kill Google's settlement and force a new agreement that will not, they claim, give a monopoly on the world's written knowledge to the search giant.

Here's a sample of the Alliance's manifesto, courtesy of Reback and Brantley:

One of the most significant developments in the history of publishing could be co-opted by the settlement of a class action lawsuit that creates an unprecedented monopoly and price fixing cartel. Just as Gutenberg's invention of the printing press more than 700 years ago ushered in a new era of knowledge sharing, the mass digitization of books promises to revolutionize how we read and discover books. But a digital library controlled by a single company and small group of publishers would inevitably lead to higher prices and subpar service for consumers, libraries, scholars, and students.

A proposed settlement to a class action lawsuit settlement among Google, the Association of American Publishers (AAP), and the Authors' Guild threatens to monopolize the access to and distribution and pricing of the largest digital database of books in the world, cornering much of the value of book digitization and reserving it to the private parties that have negotiated what is essentially both a new policy and a business model governing access to this material without input from appropriate government officials or the public. This is unacceptable.

Unlike the proposed settlement, there are proper, fair ways to make the promised digital future for books a reality. Today, we are launching the Open Book Alliance to insist that any mass book digitization and distribution effort be open and competitive. It must be undertaken in the open, grounded in sound public policy, and mindful of the need to promote long-term benefits for consumers rather than isolated commercial interests.

The Alliance has some heavy hitters in the rotation. In addition to Amazon, Microsoft, and Yahoo, the New York Library Association and the American Society of Journalists and Authors are backing up the Alliance. But Google spokesman Gabriel Stricker didn't seem too impressed when he spoke to the Wall Street Journal; in fact, he fairly snorted, dubbing the group the "Sour Grapes Alliance." Zing!

Of course, Google won't always be so imperious about monopoly concerns. In fact, company spokesman Dan Clancy has agreed to meet with critics tomorrow on the UC Berkeley campus, reports CNet writer Tom Krazit. Among other concerns, he'll hear complaints that no private, for-profit company should ever have absolute control over such a public trust; and that library users have a right to anonymity, but Google hasn't exactly had the best privacy record. Clancy may even hear that Google's archiving project is, well, a little sloppy. UC Berkeley linguist Geoff Nunberg told CNet that Google Book Search has listed the publication date of A Tale of Two Cities as 1800—but Charles Dickens wasn't born until 1812. Anyone using it to conduct serious academic research, he added, is setting themselves up to fail.