Harvard University reconsiders Google Book ban

The Harvard Crimson student newspaper reports that the prestigious Ivy League school is reconsidering the current ban prohibiting Google from scanning, digitizing and making publicly available copyrighted material from the university's vast collection of books. Although Google has already digitized 40,000 public domain books from Harvard’s collection, the university has staunchly opposed the terms of the proposed $125 million Google Book Settlement because of copyright concerns. Interestingly, the Crimson article was co-written by Elyssa A.L. Spitzer, a member of the Class of 2012 and daughter of former New York governor Eliot Spitzer.

Frederik Pohl should stop clowning around, resign from disgraced Authors Guild

The prospect that U.S. District Court Judge Denny Chin’s confirmation by the Senate for a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit could further delay the long-awaited ruling on the legality of the proposed revised Google Book Settlement (GBS 2.0) presents science fiction author and SFWA Grand Master Frederik Pohl with an excellent opportunity to stop clowning around like some disgruntled supporter of left-wing lunatic Howard Dean and resign as Midwest Area Representative to the disgraced Authors Guild.

In the event that Pohl is not aware, the high-brow New York City-based Authors Guild is considered to be the Goldman Sachs of the literary world, accused of conspiring with its publishing allies to sell, without legal authorization, the copyrighted works of tens of thousands of non-Guild members to Google for $125 million.

Pohl should follow the courageous lead of fellow author and SFWA Grand Master Ursula K. Le Guin and publicly resign from the disgraced Authors Guild. Otherwise, he is simply helping billion-dollar corporations mine the literary oort of working class writers.

The Biographical Dictionary of Authors Guild Insiders: Michael Gross

The legal shit storm at Goldman Sachs reminds me that it is time to post the last entry in The Biographical Dictionary of Authors Guild Insiders. The Authors Guild “insiders” are those senior staff members who worked in smoke-filled backrooms with the Guild's publishing allies to craft a spurious legal agreement titled Google Book Search Settlement in a brazen attempt to sell the copyrighted works of tens of thousands of non-Guild writers to Google for $125 million. Here's the final entry:

Michael Gross -- a 1999 graduate of New York Law School and staff attorney for the Guild since 1999, who has assisted hundreds of authors in contractual and copyright matters and speaks regularly to writers groups on book contract issues, provided additional legal support for the negotiating team. [The Public Index]

Other entries include biographical sketches of Guild executive director Paul Aiken, general counsel Jan Constantine, director of legal services Anita Fore, consultant Simon Marcus, marketing director Sandy Long, and librarian Terry King.

A federal judge is currently reviewing the legality of the revised Google Book Search Settlement (GBS 2.0).

UPDATE: Just checked the website of the Authors Guild. I cannot believe that legendary SF author Frederik Pohl is still listed as an advisor to the Guild's Council. What a clown.

The Biographical Dictionary of Authors Guild Insiders: Terry King

News that the American Society of Media Photographers and other groups representing visual artists have filed a class-action lawsuit against Google over its highly contentious digital library reminds me that it is time to post another entry in The Biographical Dictionary of Authors Guild Insiders. The Authors Guild “insiders” are those senior staff members who worked in smoke-filled backrooms with the Guild's publishing allies to craft a spurious legal agreement titled Google Book Search Settlement in a brazen attempt to sell the copyrighted works of tens of thousands of non-Guild writers to Google for $125 million. Here's today's entry:

Terry King -- a former librarian at State University of New York, New Paltz, who was awarded a Master of Library Science Degree from Columbia University in 1988, contributed his expertise both as to library systems and - in his capacity as Operations Manager of the Authors Registry - to the operations of royalty payment systems. [The Public Index]

Other entries include biographical sketches of Guild executive director Paul Aiken, general counsel Jan Constantine, director of legal services Anita Fore, consultant Simon Marcus and marketing director Sandy Long.

A federal judge is currently reviewing the legality of the revised Google Book Search Settlement (GBS 2.0).

The Biographical Dictionary of Authors Guild Insiders: Sandy Long

SF blog io9 editor Annalee Newitz's long and thoughtful piece about "5 Ways The Google Book Settlement Will Change The Future of Reading" reminds me that it is time to post another entry in The Biographical Dictionary of Authors Guild Insiders. The Authors Guild “insiders” are those senior staff members who worked in smoke-filled backrooms with the Guild's publishing allies to craft a spurious legal agreement in a brazen attempt to sell the copyrighted works of tens of thousands of non-Guild writers to Google for $125 million. Here's today's entry:

Sandy Long, Marketing Director for the Guild, has 25 years of experience in the book industry, including work with major booksellers and as senior vice president of Spier New York, a leading book marketing company. Ms. Long consulted on all matters pertaining to the marketing of books under the settlement. [The Public Index]

Other entries include biographical sketches of Guild executive director Paul Aiken, general counsel Jan Constantine, director of legal services Anita Fore, and consultant Simon Marcus.

The Biographical Dictionary of Authors Guild Insiders: Simon Marcus

Yesterday’s political rally in Searchlight, Nevada, reminded me that it is time to post another entry in The Biographical Dictionary of Authors Guild Insiders. The Authors Guild “insiders” are those senior staff members who worked in smoke-filled backrooms with the Guild's publishing allies to craft a spurious legal agreement in a brazen attempt to sell the copyrighted works of tens of thousands of non-Guild writers to Google for $125 million. Here’s the entry for Simon Marcus:

Simon Marcus, who consults with the Guild, has extensive knowledge of book databases and database technology as the chief operating officer of The Library Corporation [TLC], a library database services provider. Mr. Marcus played a particularly significant role in consulting on database security issues. [The Public Index]

Simon Marcus brings a depth of operations experience to his position at TLC, with a career based on successful project management and process improvement for prominent organizations. Mr. Marcus joined TLC in early 2007 with a working knowledge of the company, having previously served as TLC's Director of Implementation. Before returning to TLC, Mr. Marcus served as Chief Operating Officer of the Authors Guild, the oldest and largest American organization for published authors. Before joining the Guild, Mr. Marcus was Projects Manager for the New York office of AM+A, a leading Web design firm. Prior to that, he served the YMCA of Greater New York, where he combined six customer service units into one department processing over $16 million in annual revenues. Mr. Marcus's career began in MetLife's Real Estate Investments Group as a Business Process Analyst. He went on to manage resident services at MetLife's Peter Cooper Village/Stuyvesant Town, the largest real estate complex in Manhattan. Mr. Marcus holds a bachelor's degree in Political Science from Bard College (NY). [The Library Corporation]

Previous entries include biographical sketches of the Authors Guild’s executive director, Paul Aiken, general counsel, Jan Constantine, and director of legal services, Anita Fore.

The Biographical Dictionary of Authors Guild Insiders: Anita Fore

Considering the lack of transparency and accountability down in the U.S. House of Representatives, now is an opportune time to post another entry in The Biographical Dictionary of Authors Guild Insiders. The Authors Guild “insiders” are those senior staff members who worked in smoke-filled backrooms with the Guild's publishing allies to craft a spurious legal agreement in a brazen attempt to sell the copyrighted works of tens of thousands of non-Guild writers to Google for $125 million. Here’s the entry for Anita Fore:

Director of Legal Services Anita Fore, a 1996 graduate of the Duke University School of Law, who has reviewed hundreds of book contracts and advised members on countless business, book contract issues, book, and on-line publishing contracts and copyright matters since joining the Guild's staff in 2000, contributed her extensive knowledge of book contracts, copyright and electronic rights issues during our negotiations.

Previous entries include biographical sketches of the Guild’s executive director, Paul Aiken, and general counsel, Jan Constantine.

Note: Information taken directly from legal documents posted in The Public Index, a website devoted to the proposed Google Book Settlement (GBS). A federal judge is scheduled to approve or disapprove the proposed revised settlement (GBS 2.0) in the near future.

After muting talking e-reader, Authors Guild now supports equal reading rights for disabled

Last February, the Authors Guild muted the revolutionary text-to-speech feature in Amazon’s Kindle 2 e-reader, signaling that the high-brow New York literary society was more concerned with protecting streams of royalty revenue for its wealthiest members than supporting equal reading rights for the disabled. When the Reading Rights Coalition, a nonprofit organization that represents millions of disabled Americans who cannot read print, held a protest for equal reading rights outside the Guild’s headquarters in New York City last April, the Guild issued an insensitive press release calling the protest “unfortunate and unnecessary.”

Now, about a year later and with the proposed revised Google Book Settlement (GBS 2.0) on the brink of being rejected by a federal judge, the Authors Guild and its publishing industry allies have issued a joint statement with the Reading Rights Coalition, pledging to “work together and through the communities they represent to ensure that when the marketplace offers alternative formats to print books, such as audio and electronic books, print-disabled consumers can access the contents of these alternative formats to the same extent as all other consumers.”

Not surprisingly, the statement neglects to mention that the Authors Guild already obstructed Amazon's attempt to offer "alternative formats to print books" for "print-disabled consumers."

The Biographical Dictionary of Authors Guild Insiders: Jan Constantine

As a follow-up to the Authors Guild’s anti-Amazon Who Moved My Button? project, an ill-conceived attempt to monitor the book & e-book policies of the Internet retailing giant, I thought it would be beneficial to compile The Biographical Dictionary of Authors Guild Insiders. The “insiders” are those senior staff members who worked in smoke-filled backrooms with the Guild's publishing allies to craft a legal agreement to sell the copyrighted works of tens of thousands of non-Guild writers to Google for $125 million. Since I have already compiled a biographical sketch of Guild executive director Paul Aiken, here is the entry for Jan Constantine:

General Counsel Jan Constantine, a 1973 graduate of The National Law Center, George Washington University, who oversaw the settlement on behalf of the Guild. Ms. Constantine brought deep legal and business experience to this task. Ms. Constantine had been employed as an attorney with the federal government for 10 years at the Federal Trade Commission and as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Eastern District of New York, before taking a position with publishing conglomerate Macmillan, Inc., where she worked for 10 years, rising to the position of Deputy General Counsel. Ms. Constantine then worked for 14 years as Executive Vice President and Senior Deputy General Counsel of News America, the U.S. subsidiary of News Corporation, where she was in charge of U.S. litigation, First Amendment matters, and intellectual property mergers and acquisitions, among other responsibilities.

Note: Information taken directly from legal documents posted on The Public Index, a website devoted to the proposed Google Book Settlement (GBS). A federal judge is scheduled to approve or disapprove the proposed revised settlement (GBS 2.0) in the near future.

SF&F writers will be well represented at GBS fairness hearing on February 18th

New York Law School Professor James Grimmelmann of the blog The Laboratorium reports that United States District Court Judge Denny Chin has announced the line-up of twenty-six individuals and groups who have requested to speak at the Google Books Search settlement fairness hearing on February 18th in New York City. Speaking in opposition to the proposed settlement, we have lawyers for Amazon at the #3 spot (shhh!), followed by the attorney representing SFWA and the American Society of Journalists and Authors at #4 (yeahhh!), with esquire Cindy Cohen of the Electronic Frontier Foundation speaking on behalf of the “Privacy Authors and Publishers” (Michael Chabon, Cory Doctorow, Annalee Newitz) in the #7 slot (boooo!). Rumor has it that the proceedings will be accompanied by Authors Guild executive director Paul Aiken on the organ.

Dept. of Justice: GBS 2.0 fails to address antitrust and copyright concerns

Reuters reports that the United States Dept. of Justice has objected to the revised Google Books Search settlement (GBS 2.0) because the proposed deal fails to address antitrust and copyright concerns. "At this time, in the view of the United States, the public interest would best be served by direction from the court encouraging the continuation of settlement discussions between the parties and, if the Court so chooses, guidance as to those aspects of the ASA (amended settlement agreement) that need to be addressed," the DOJ said in a court filing.

U.S. District Judge Denny Chin has scheduled a fairness hearing on GBS 2.0 for February 18th.

Struggling to remain relevant, Authors Guild leaps into Amazon-Macmillan fray

Fearing that its naked attempt to rewrite copyright law through the proposed Google Books Search settlement 2.0 will be rejected by both the Dept. of Justice and a federal judge later this month, scrambling to demonstrate that its high-brow New York literary club represents more than just a law firm for multi-millionaire authors, and struggling to remain relevant in the flat world of 21st-century publishing, the antiquated Authors Guild has leaped into the Amazon-Macmillan e-book pricing fray by posting this statement on its website: “The Right Battle at the Right Time.”

Publishers Weekly: GBS deal is in jeopardy

Publishers Weekly just posted a lengthy but excellent article by Andrew Richard Albanese entitled “If the Google Settlement fails, what's next?” It’s all about the proposed Google Books Search settlement 2.0. Award-winning science fiction author Ursula K. Le Guin is prominently featured and her picture appears with what has now become a famous quote: “The Guild cannot and does not speak for all American writers.”

Estate of author Richard Wright opposes proposed Google Book Settlement 2.0

In a stinging blow to the Authors Guild’s Steinbeck-Guthrie strategy for convincing thousands of less-prominent writers that the proposed, revised Google Books Search settlement (GBS 2.0) is in their best interest, The New York Times reports that the estate of African-American author Richard Wright strongly opposes the revised settlement. In a two-page statement released earlier today, representatives of Wright's estate called GBS 2.0 “grievously flawed.”

Authors Guild embraces populism, uses John Steinbeck, Woody Guthrie to sell settlement

In a sign of how desperate the Authors Guild is to convince its dwindling base of 8,000 members and tens of thousands of non-member writers that the proposed Google Books Search settlement is in their best interest, the high-brow New York literary organization has embraced two populist American icons. On Thursday, the Guild sent an email to its membership trumpeting the news that the estates of author John Steinbeck and songwriter Woody Guthrie, which vociferously opposed the proposed settlement just months ago, now support the initiative. The email contained a lengthy letter from Gail Steinbeck, daughter-in-law of the author, who, not coincidently, praised the Guild. Given John Steinbeck and Woody Guthrie’s political views and the themes portrayed in their major works, one wonders how they would feel about being reduced to commercial fodder by the Authors Guild and their heirs.

5 things Paul Aiken of Authors Guild should have disclosed in discussing Google book settlement

Earlier today, I followed SFWA’s online panel discussion regarding the proposed Google Books Search settlement. Moderated by SFWA secretary Mary Robinette Kowal, the panelists included executive director Paul Aiken of the Authors Guild, editor Lou Anders of Pyr books, former SFWA president and author Michael Capobianco, author Charles Stross and librarian Lynne M. Thomas of Northern Illinois University. While the panelists provided a fruitful discussion and took questions from the public, here are five things I believe Paul Aiken should have disclosed:

1) A more illuminating biographical sketch of himself. Due to the fact that the website of the Authors Guild has no biography of Mr. Aiken, I took the time several months ago to compile some biographical notes.

2) A photograph of himself. Mr. Aiken is notoriously camera-shy, but here’s a few photographs of him attending a recent Authors Guild annual gala.

3) Whether, considering his position as a member of the board of directors of the Authors Registry, Mr. Aiken intends to seek a position on the board of directors of the proposed Book Rights Registry.

4) Whether, as a licensed and practicing attorney in the State of New York, Mr. Aiken stands to reap any of the approximately $30 million in legal fees that the plaintiffs' attorneys will receive under the proposed settlement.

5) Whether Google has ever made a financial contribution to either the Authors Guild or its sister organizations, the Authors Guild Foundation and the Authors League Fund.

Kim Stanley Robinson joins “Ursula’s List” in opposition to Google Books Search settlement

Science fiction author Kim Stanley Robinson has joined “Ursula’s List” in opposition to the proposed Google Books Search settlement. Robinson is the author of the monumental, award-winning series Red Mars (1992), Green Mars (1993), Blue Mars (1996), as well as The Martians (1999), a collection of short fiction.

Allen Steele joins “Ursula’s List” in opposition to Google Books Search settlement

Science fiction author Allen Steele has joined “Ursula’s List” in opposition to the proposed Google Books Search settlement. Steele has written several pieces of Martian SF, including “Live from the Mars Hotel” (1988), “Red Planet Blues” (1989), Labyrinth of Night: a Novel of Mars (1992), “A Letter from St. Louis” (1996), “Zwarte Piet's Tale” (1998), and “A Walk Across Mars” (2002).

Bud Sparhawk joins “Ursula’s List” in opposition to Google Books Search settlement

Science fiction writer Bud Sparhawk has joined “Ursula’s List” in opposition to the proposed Google Books Search settlement. Sparhawk is the author of “Olympus Mons!”, a novelette published in the January 1998 issue of Analog magazine, and “Winds of Mars,” a novella about a sailing race on the Red Planet that was published online in 2009 by Baen Books.

Frederik Pohl should be a Man Plus, resign from disgraced Authors Guild

“Take a man. Make him more than a man. To save the world… or risk destroying it.”

After a holiday lull, the legal battle over the proposed Google Books Search settlement (GBS) has resumed, as an important February 18th federal court hearing approaches. Although I’m just a casual science fiction fan and have no stake in the settlement, I respectfully call upon author and SFWA Grand Master Frederik Pohl to transform himself into a Man Plus by resigning as Midwest Area Representative to the disgraced Authors Guild and adding his name to fellow author and Grand Master Ursula K. Le Guin’s growing list of genre writers opposed to the proposed settlement.

Pictured: Pohl's Man Plus, well-equipped to help Le Guin fight her GBS devil.