EU Still Plans to Start Local Digitization Process to Challenge Google Books

Most of the controversy surrounding Google Books has been quieting down lately, but it's not all smooth sailing now that a revised settlement has been agreed upon. While the copyright issues regarding orphan books have been addressed, European countries are still very much against the idea that the task of preserving the world's books in digital form should fall into the hands of any one private company. A plan to start a pan-European digitization process has been around for a while now, and several projects have been started or planned, although none have reached their intended goals so far. The EU is not giving up though and officials have agreed to create a committee to put things into motion.

French Culture Minister Frederic Mitterrand told a local newspaper of the plans in an interview and also argued the need for a state-backed project. He said that the first step was getting everyone on board and getting everyone's opinion on the matter. "The committee will be asked to bring together national views and draw up a joint position," Mitterrand told Journal du Dimanche.

The main argument for the project is that the effort is much too important to be left to the whims of a private company. Of course, the fact that this certain company is American only makes it worse, though the minister was careful not to imply this. He refused to comment when asked about the revised terms of the settlement, which will now only include books published in the US, the UK, Canada and Australia, but he said that a policy of this importance should be left to the lawmakers rather than come from a settlement between a private company and rights groups.

"For my part, there isn't any anti-Americanism. Nevertheless, I believe America isn't a monolith, and different opinions must be expressed. That's why I don't want the State to surrender before the markets," he said. "It's not up to this or that private group to decide policy on an issue as important as the digitization of our global heritage. I'm not going to leave this decision up to simple laissez-faire." [via Reuters]