Internet Archive joins the ebook land rush

There’s a big fuss raging over Google’s book deal making untold numbers of out of print titles available. The problem is in the exclusivity Google obtained from the government and big media in exchange for a large pile of cash.  Opposition to Google’s ploy can is well represented on Siva Vaidhyanathan’s blog. I agree that it’s a bad idea for searchzilla to have a dominant and uncontested position as publisher in the Third Pipe world. I see larger problem in that the most vocal of anti Google crowd want to give control of online publishing to Government. Given political agendas that are part and parcel of government, this is a very bad idea. The deal Google was able to strike is a perfect example of this.

If left to evolve without interference, the new world of publishing will take care of itself. The Internet Archive is joining the fray with its new Bookserver. Not only will it continue to offer out of copyright works, but will also operate as a platform for individuals, libraries and publishers to distribute electronically. This could be a game changer. No governmental interference needed thank you.

Internet Archive founder Brewster Kahle told CNET News that BookServer is about creating an open system that allows search engines to index books that are available from a wide group of sources. Effectively, commercial publishers, lending libraries and even individual authors would have a way to index their work and offer easy digital distribution under BookServer, Kahle said.

Kahle said that he’s been thinking about such a project since before the advent of the World Wide Web, but that the technology has never been ready. But that’s changed over the last 20 years, he said. “We’ve now gotten universal access to free (content),” Kahle added. “Now it’s time to get universal access to all knowledge, and not all of this will be free.”

He explained that BookServer is built on the notion of a Web server, and that only a good indexing system is standing in the way of making all books digitally and easily available to consumers, whether they’re using a laptop computer, an iPhone, or a Kindle.

Today, he said, publishers, libraries, and others usually turn to outsiders to build them an online distribution system, and that each of those systems stands alone and unindexable. With BookServer, the Internet Archive is hoping that for the first time, consumers everywhere will be able to buy or borrow any text they want while leaving control over pricing and terms of such distribution in the hands of the content owners. (Cnet)

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