Sep 4, 2009 3:15 PM

Privacy Group Asks to Join Google Book Lawsuit As Deadline Approaches

A key privacy group is seeking to intervene in the ongoing copyright lawsuit over Google’s plan to build the library and bookstore of the future, arguing that reader privacy is at risk no matter how much Google promises to have a good privacy policy. EPIC, or the Electronic Privacy Information Center, asked federal court judge […]

A key privacy group is seeking to intervene in the ongoing copyright lawsuit over Google's plan to build the library and bookstore of the future, arguing that reader privacy is at risk no matter how much Google promises to have a good privacy policy.

EPIC, or the Electronic Privacy Information Center, asked federal court judge Denny Chin on Friday to allow it to formally intervene on behalf of readers' privacy interests in the suit pitting Google against the Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers. The motion comes just a day after Google finally released a draft privacy policy for the Book Search program, bowing to pressure (.pdf) from the FTC.

Epic president Marc Rotenberg, a privacy policy enforcement expert, says privacy policies exist mainly to let companies to do what they want to with your data and that they don't protect users from prying law enforcement agencies.

"Even if Google would write it in blood, there is still the obvious problem that when the government comes knocking the policy doesn't mean anything," Rotenberg said.

That's why the judge in the case needs to make privacy rules part of the settlement, he argues.

"If through the settlement, you limited the collection of some reader data, then when the government comes, the data is just not there," he said.

Starting in 2002, Google Book Search began scanning millions of books from university libraries and letting users search and read portions of the books. That leadsome rights holders to sue the search and advertising giant in 2005 to get a portion of the profits from the ads that accompany the results.

The two agreed to a proposed settlement late last fall, but opposition to the agreement has steadily grown over the ensuing months. The settlement gives Google a waiver to copy, display and sell millions of books that are out-of-print but still in copyright. Critics, which include academics and Google competitors such as Amazon and Microsoft, say that amounts to an unfair monopoly. The Justice Department is also investigating.

See Wired.com's FAQ on the Google Book Search settlement to learn more.

But EPIC's concern is that Google is building the library of the future without the data privacy protections of the past, the group told the judge in its motion to intervene (.pdf).

The digital book system established by the Settlement will profoundly transform the circumstances under which individuals will obtain access to information in the digital age. Readers will be required to disclose sensitive, personal information that the parties will collect and store, and link to other services that will enable the creation of detailed, secret profiles on individuals who seek access to digital works. The Settlement places no meaningful limits on how the parties obtain, use, or disclose readers’ information. This is an unprecedented change in access to knowledge that deeply implicates intellectual freedom, state privacy laws, and Constitutional interests that cannot be ignored by this Court.

Google told the FTC Thursday that its Book Search privacy policy will be much like the one for Google's web search. That policy lets Google to keep logs of queries, IP addresses and other identifying information for months or years, depending on one's settings.

The company also plans, according to the interim policy, to "build protections to limit the information (such as book titles) available to credit card companies about book purchases, and to enable you to delete or disassociate the titles of books purchased from your Google Account."

The roster of those with a stake in Google's attempt to build the library/bookstore is long and complicated. Those in favor? Big name authors, disability rights groups, and Sony (which makes an e-Book). Those opposed? The Internet Archive, a union for freelance writers, and Yahoo/Microsoft/Amazon.

Those with mixed feelings? Well, there's the American Library Association, for one.

Friday was supposed to be the final deadline for authors to opt-out of the settlement or for outsiders to register their support or dissent with the court. But due to a problem with the Manhattan federal court's computers, the deadline was be extended until Tuesday.

It is unlikely the matter will be any less complicated after the long weekend or come October 7 when the proposed settlement has a 'fairness' hearing.

Photo: Wesley Fryer

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