National Writers Union writes to Al Gore about Google Book Settlement
By Paul Biba
The National Writers Union has asked Al Gore to get involved in the Settlement. I’ve reprinted the letter, in full, below.
As a national leader with a distinguished career in public service, we are seeking your help in protecting the rights and economic well being of our members on a matter of great public interest.
The proposed settlement between Google, the Authors’ Guild and the Association of American Publishers threatens to monopolize the access, distribution and pricing of the world’s largest digital book database. As a senior advisor to Google and given your personal relationship with co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, we respectfully ask you to urge Google’s management to petition the court for a delay in settlement proceedings so that writers have more time to examine this complex agreement. The court deadline for our members to “opt-out” of the program is September 4, and the court could close the entire process down and approve the private settlement on October 7. We believe that both dates should be postponed.
The proposed settlement would give Google monopolistic control over access to many previously published copyrighted books and materials. It would also give Google a license to reproduce a writer’s copyrighted work unless the writer specifically tells Google to remove his or her work from the program. This is grossly unfair. No corporation should be able to profit from the work of our members without first obtaining their permission in writing.
The National Writers Union/United Auto Workers Local 1981, is the nation’s only labor union and advocacy organization for freelance writers in all genres, media and formats. We have joined a growing number of voices who are raising concerns about the settlement as the court deadlines loom. There has been no formal public process for stakeholders to have real input on the myriad details of this settlement. We hope that you will use your leadership position at Google to impress upon management that a settlement as revolutionary and unprecedented as this one deserves more public input and scrutiny.
You have always fought for workers and creators and have been a pioneer in the digital age. Your strong pro-consumer record is unassailable. Today, labor truly needs your help. With Labor Day just around the corner, we hope that you hear our call.
September 1st, 2009 at 1:21 pm
I guess if they want to stop Google Books, they could do worse than appeal to the man who invented the Internet.
September 1st, 2009 at 2:15 pm
Any port in a storm, and any appeal that’ll at stall the Google juggernaut has my blessing, although I suspect Gore’s influence at Google is much less than he and his fans might believe.
September 1st, 2009 at 3:28 pm
I find it amusing that a letter from the National Writers Union has a subject error in the first sentence: “As a national leader with a distinguished career in public service, WE . . .”