Google's Book Settlement and Privacy

Very interesting article by David Bender in the New York Law Journal about the fact that the Google book settlement lacks user data protection.

Mr. Bender notes that the settlement contains nothing explicit regarding such matters as what personal data Google may collect, how it may be used, how it must be secured and to whom and under what conditions it may be disclosed for what purposes.

The article notes that the EFF, the ACLU, and the Berkeley Law Public Policy Clinic have urged Google to include privacy protections in the book settlement.

Public Domain Books on Paperback

Google authorized yesterday that 2 million books of its digital library, which are now in the public domain, to be printed as paperbacks on the “Espresso Book Machine,” with a recommended sale price of 8 dollars per copy. Whether more titles could be printed on the Espresso machine depends of the outcome of Google Book Settlement. If authorized, it will be interesting to follow how authors's royalties will be calculated and paid.