Privacy and Goggle Book Settlement's Institutional Subscription Provisions

The Utility of Google Book Search Debate

Recently, on a mailing list associated with new media transformations, there emerged a debate on the inherent utility of Google Book Search. Involving Paul Duguid (UC Berkeley Information School), Danny Sullivan (Search Engine Land), Tim O’Reilly (O’Reilly Media), and Donald Waters (The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation), the debate drew out many of the tensions of Google Book Search. With the permission of the posters, Brantley has reproduced the debate on Knowledge Rules.

On Everyone a User Account, Peter Brantley raises important privacy issues rising from the Institutional Subscription Terms and Conditions provisions of the Google Book Settlement Agreement. Two snips:

[O]n an institutional basis, including in U.S. government agency subscriptions, it might well be the case that users have to establish Google accounts tied to institution boundaries to provide the kind of auditable transaction record and compliance regime specified by the settlement.  If that is the case, then not only will Google know what I've been reading, and what books I've been searching, but they could well correlate with certainty against my news subscriptions, my Google Map searches ... the list grows long.

...

Many universities have previously turned away from Google Accounts for Higher Ed due to privacy concerns, including concerns relating to liability and identification of responsible parties in cases of private, State, or Federal legal action, including subpoena.  They now face winding up entering an unexpected set of relationships through an institutional license with Google.

For much more, see Brantley's post. [JH]