Google’s Copyright War and Open Access

In Thursday’s Guardian, Seth Finkelstein writes about “Google’s copyright war will have open access advocates up in arms.”  

Mr. Finkelstein’s article summarizes the dispute, quotes a number of folks but the final paragraph really caught my attention:

Amid all the reactions, an overall lesson should be how little can be determined by legalism, and how much remains unsettled as new technology causes shifts in markets and power.  There’s some value in enemy-of-my-enemy opposition, where the interests of an advertising near-monopoly are a counterweight to a content cartel. But battles between behemoth businesses should not be mistaken for friendship to libraries, authors or public interest.

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