Tech: Why should Google Books stay alive? It’s for the common good.
- A delivery system for books that few people want is not a business one builds for financial reasons. Over history, such projects are usually built not by the market but by mad emperors. No bean counter would have approved the Library of Alexandria or the Taj Mahal.
- Slate columnist Tim Wu • In a passionate plea to keep the Google Books project alive. Wu explains that the project is in jeopardy due to the fear of monopolistic concerns by Web competitors and the Justice Department. Wu emphasizes that Google is doing it for the public interest alone, and they’re doing a great service by keeping all these out-of-print books alive. Even considering copyright and all that other stuff, that’s a great reason to keep something like this alive. • source
