Podcast Series: Innovations in Education

Explore the full series of eCampus News podcasts hosted by Kevin Hogan—created to keep you on the cutting edge of innovations in education.

Judge delays Google book ruling

Google's book deal is promising, but antitrust concerns remain, says the DOJ.
Google's book deal is promising, but antitrust concerns remain, says the DOJ.

As educators and researchers await a landmark decision with enormous implications for schools and colleges, a Manhattan judge says it will take some time to decide whether Google can legally build the world’s biggest digital library.

Google’s effort to create the world’s largest library by scanning millions of books for use on the internet faces a courtroom fight as authors, foreign governments, corporate rivals, and even the U.S. Department of Justice line up to challenge it.

Judge Denny Chin heard oral arguments on Feb. 18 and said he already had read more than 500 written submissions about Google’s $125 million deal with authors and publishers, which was aimed at ending a pair of 2005 lawsuits and clearing legal obstacles to a gigantic online home for digital books. (See “Google rebuts DOJ objections to digital book deal.”)…Read More

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Google rebuts DOJ objections to digital book deal

Google is taking on the DOJ in defending its book-scanning settlement.
Google is taking on the DOJ in defending its book-scanning settlement.

Google Inc. wants the digital rights to millions of books badly enough that it’s willing to take on the U.S. Department of Justice in a court battle over whether the internet search leader’s book-scanning ambitions would break antitrust and copyright laws—a battle with important implications for students, teachers, scholars, and researchers.

The stage for the showdown was set Feb. 11 with a Google court filing that defended the $125 million settlement of a class-action lawsuit the company reached with U.S. authors and publishers more than 14 months ago.

Google’s 67-page filing includes a rebuttal to the Justice Department’s belief that the settlement would thwart competition in the book market and undermine copyright law. The brief also tries to overcome a chorus of criticism from several of its rivals, watchdog groups, state governments, and even some foreign governments.…Read More

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Feds still troubled by Google Books deal

Federal officials think Google's revised book-scanning settlement still gives the company too much power.
Federal officials think Google's revised book-scanning settlement still gives the company too much power.

The U.S. Justice Department still thinks a proposal to give Google the digital rights to millions of hard-to-find books threatens to stifle competition and undermine copyright laws, despite revisions aimed at easing those concerns.

The opinion filed Feb. 4 in New York federal court is a significant setback in Google’s effort to win approval of a 15-month-old legal settlement that would put the internet search leader in charge of a vast electronic library and store.

A diverse mix of Google rivals, consumer watchdogs, academic experts, literary agents, state governments, and even foreign governments already have urged U.S. District Judge Denny Chin to reject the agreement.…Read More

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Wrongful ISP piracy suspension raises questions

If internet service providers are going to become copyright police, then a recent case involving a Colorado woman suggests there’s a need for better safeguards to prevent people from being wrongly accused and cut off from the web, CNET reports. All Cathi Paradiso knew for sure, as she learned that her web access was being shut off, was that she was losing her struggle to stay calm. To Paradiso, the customer-service representative from Qwest Communications could have been speaking Slovenian for all the sense it made. Her internet service was suspended… Hollywood studios accused her of copyright violations… she illegally downloaded 18 films and TV shows…”Zombieland,” “Harry Potter,” “South Park…” South Park? What would a 53-year-old grandmother want with “South Park,” she thought to herself? Paradiso, a technical recruiter who works out of her home, would eventually be cleared. Last week, Qwest had a technician investigate—after CNET began making inquiries—and he discovered that her network had been compromised. So Paradiso is off the hook, but she wants to know what would have happened had she not gone to the media. There was no independent third party to hear her complaint. There was no one to advocate for her. “This goes to show that there’s a problem with due process in these kinds of situations,” said Fred von Lohmann, senior staff attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation. “If you’re going to kick somebody off the internet, there’s a lot of procedures that need to be put in place to protect the innocent. It doesn’t look like those were in place here.”

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