Author's Guild v. Google

A coalition of authors and publishers—including best-sellers Michael Chabon, Jonathan Lethem, and technical author Bruce Schneier—is urging a federal judge to reject the proposed settlement in a lawsuit over Google Book Search, arguing that the sweeping agreement to digitize millions of books ignores critical privacy rights for readers and writers.

The group of more than two dozen authors and publishers, represented by EFF, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), and the Samuelson Law, Technology, and Public Policy Clinic at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law (Samuelson clinic), filed an objection to the settlement on Tuesday, September 8, 2009. The coalition is concerned that Google’s collection of personal identifying information about users who browse, read, and make purchases online at Google Book Search will chill their readership.

Authors and publishers who have joined the objection include Michael Chabon, Jonathan Lethem, Anthony D. Romero, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Bruce Schneier, Ayelet Waldman, Cory Doctorow, Beverly Potter, David G. Post, Wendy Chapkis, Jon Evans, Carol Queen, Julian Dibbell, Richard Glen Boire, Jessamyn West, Zak A. Greant, Chris Carlsson, Violet Blue, Debbie Nathan, Rachel Kramer Bussel, Daphne Gottlieb, Annalee Newitz, Lisa Hendrix, Shannon Okey, Kim Werker, Cleis Press, the ACLU, and Electronic Frontier Foundation.