This week it was announced that professors at the University of California are calling for reconsideration of the institution’s participation with Google Book Search and the settlement. According to a posting from the Bits blog, the professors include members from the university’s Academic Council and the chair of the Academic Senate’s Committee on Libraries and Scholarly Communication. The group has issued a letter to the court noting that they are not opposed to the settlement but they have a number of concerns including: “the settlement is not equally fair to all members of the author sub-class and does not fully address the needs of academic authors,” the settlement does not expressly protect the privacy of users, and if the settlement is approved, Google could become a monopoly and be free to raise the prices. The letter also includes suggestions on how to address the concerns.
The deadline for authors to decide whether to participate in the settlement or opt or is approaching and set for September 4, 2009 with the final hearing on October 7, 2009.
