Google is in trouble in China once again. The search engine giant stands accused of trampling the rights of more than 500 authors in its quest to add Chinese-language books to its digital library.
The long-existing copyright dispute will probably not be resolved any time soon, but this case draws more attention to the direction Google Books is taking.
“This online library is the tool of the future and will benefit many readers. But who is going to look after the authors’ interests, and how?” one author a.
The new dispute came to attention October 13 when CCTV’s Morning News reported that the Google China Digital Library was suspected of having committed large-scale copyright infringement in scanning Chinese books
A total of 18,000 books from 570 Chinese authors, including government officials, have been scanned without authorization, it reported.
Though the segment ran less than a minute, the accusations attracted nationwide attention and provoked editorials and debates.
The drama got a second wind Monday when the Web site of the People’s Dail said Google had launched a malicious revenge campaign in response to the site’s coverage of the contrversy.
Wang Yin, an editor at the Daily’ site, says the editorial department began receiving calls Tuesday morning from readers who could not reach the site from Google. Search matches related to the People’s Dail Online’ coverage of the Google story turned up warnings that “This site may contain malicious software that could harm your computer.”Wang says there was no malware on the site, and that the block was due to the site’s coverage. ThePeople’s Dail Online began featuring stories on the issue on October 21 and had added a special page for the topic.
