Calling Canadian Writers: join our anti-Google petition!
Canadian Writers’ Petition:
Fellow authors and copyright holders:
Many of you are already familiar with the Google Book Settlement, and its dangers for Canadian copyrights. For those of you who are not, we suggest you skim through a highly readable statement by the U.S. National Writers Union, which flatly opposes it. http://www.nwubook.org/NWU-GBS2-FAQ.html
We are a group of concerned Canadian authors who would like to protest this settlement in as effective a way as possible. Accordingly, we have written a protest letter, which we hope will gather names, including yours. Then we intend to release the letter to the media, to politicians, and anywhere else that might conceivably have an effect.
A court in New York City will soon be deciding whether to approve or reject this settlement. We hope the judge rejects it. For those of you who have considered opting out, the deadline is January 28. This is also the deadline for any submissions to the court.
We have very little time left to influence the debate. If you would like to respond, please do so as quickly as you are able.
To add your name to this petition, please email dvbolt@aol.com (Your email will NOT appear on the petition.)
LETTER IN PROTEST OF THE GOOGLE BOOK SETTLEMENT
The following Canadian authors and copyright holders wish to protest the Google Book Settlement. Even in its revised form, it is an assault on international copyright law and has distorted class action law for the benefit of a predatory corporation.
New Zealand, Ireland, South Africa and India – all countries with English-language presses similar to Canada’s — have been exempted from the settlement because they protested vigorously against it.. We wish to protest just as loudly. The Governments of France and Germany protested that illegal digitization of books amounted to theft of a cultural heritage. We agree, and believe that Canada’s heritage of Cultural nationalism should be applied to the Google settlement. All of continental Europe is now exempt, and so should Canada be.
We believe that Canadian Copyrights should be subject to Canadian courts, as well as to the Berne Convention. We believe that Canadians should not lose control over their works because they fail to sign up in a registry in another country; and, further, that the opt-out (rather than the time-honoured opt-in) clause serves to co-opt many copyright holders who do not have the the time or inclination to study this complicated settlement. Also, the deadline for opting out insults common sense and benefits only Google.
The director of the US Copyright Office has said “no factors have been demonstrated that would justify creating a system akin to a compulsory license for Google – and only Google – to digitize books for an indefinite period of time.” She has called it “an end-run around copyright law”. We agree.
The US Department of Justice sees no reason why Google should not negotiate with authors and publishers individually, just like anyone else who wants to purchase copyright licences. We agree.
The Google Settlement was negotiated by the Authors Guild of the U.S. But other U.S. groups — the National Writers Union, the American Society of Journalists and Authors, the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers — are all unequivocally opposed to it. We do not accept that the Authors Guild speaks for us and join the above organizations in demanding that the settlement be rejected.
If the settlement is not rejected, we see no reason to trust in the future. The Google Corporation has behaved in an illegal and predatory fashion in the past and will likely go on behaving in this way.
We join with the writers’ and publishers’ groups, as well as with the foreign law courts and governments, who reject the settlement in its entirety.
Sarah Sheard Mona Fertig Kim Goldberg Katherine Gordon Patricia Robertson Marilyn Bowering Wayson Choy Heather Robertson Graeme Gibson Richard Pound Leo McGrady Q.C.bill bissett Michael Elcock Paul Seesequasis
Monika Ullmann
Deanna Kawatski
Susan Glickman
Susan McCaslin
David S. Young
Ann Ireland
Andris Taskans
Anne Cameron
Linda Griffiths
Tedde Moore (own works and estate of Mavor Moore)
David Bolt (own works and estate of Carol Bolt)
Trysh Ashby-Rolls
Star Weiss
Anthony Bruce
Catherine Greenwood
Theresa Kishkan
Dave Margoshes
Alan Twigg
Daniel Wood
Trevor Carolan
Evelyn Sommers
Paulo da Costa
Susan Crean
Kathy Page
Blanche Howard
Keith Maillard
Daphne Marlatt Rohan O’Grady
Richard Stevenson
Peter Such
Tina Dickey
Ann Eriksson
Billie Livingston
Crispin Elsted
Christopher Levenson
Karen Shklanka
Ahava Shira
Leslie Hall Pinder
Charles Godfrey
Sandra Campbell
Robin Mathews
Ruth Roach Pierson
Sharon McKay
Susan McNicoll
Dave Glaze
Stuart Ross
Claire Eamer
Ann Diamond
Roy Innes
George Payerle
Frances Tang-Graham
Shawn Harold
Bruce Elkin
Catherine Owen Bella Smith Michelle Forrest
Dorothy Pedersen
Barbara Pelman Maria Coffey Bonita Slunder Eleanor Millard Gina Roitman
Michael Kenyon
Yvette Doucette
Fred Kerner
Leanne McIntosh
Candace Savage
Robin Harlick
Maureen Hull
Dr. Edward H. Shaffer.
Goh Poh Seng
Alison Griffiths
David Cruise
Silver Donald Cameron
Margie Taylor
Paul Mackan
Stan Dragland
Jacques R. Pauwels
Richelle Kosar
Michael Kusugak
Sid Marty Doug Fevens Helen McLean Sean Horlor Shirley Skidmore
Norma Charles
Tom Philp
Dave Bennett
Lou Allin
Jancis M. Andrews
Leona Gom
Sandy Shreve
Nelofer Pazira
Joanna Lilley Jodi Lundgren
Christin Geall
Christine Lowther
Larry Chapman
Margaret Dragu Albert M. Jabara Betty C. Keller
P.M. Foss Jane Covernton
Tamara Sheehan
Irene Allison
Helen Allison
Matt Beam
Heather Harbord
David R.M. Prest
Anita Louise Prest
Barbara Lambert
Sofie McGarry
Virginia Dansereau
Brian D. Johnson
Erin Sullivan
Paul Vasey
John Gilmore
Cathy & Doug Simons
Pam Blackstone
Anna Kemp
Rick Blechta
Tanya Lester
David Forrest Gail Bowen
Peter Lebensold
Isabel Huggan
Winona L. Baker Candace Fertile
Sylvia Sikundar
Maggie Dwyer
Patrick O’Flaherty
Ilonka Halsband Liza Potvin
Sadhu Binning
Ron Smith
Patricia J. Smith
Don H. Meredith
Katrin Horowitz
Joyce Goodwin
Julie Lawson
Shauna Paull
Carol Shaben
Margaret Sweatman
Pat Krause
Robert Sutherland
Sharon McKay
Jillian Ridington
Ron Bolt
Terri Perrin
Robin Ridington
Richard Paris
Shelley Harrison Ray
Betsy Nuse
Mary Tilberg
Kit Pepper
Vivian Kane
Amalia Colussi Beverley Cooper Sandy Frances Duncan
David Leach
Lyn Hancock
Liz Clark
Gail Buente
Richard Mackie
Chris Banner
Sharon Bell
John Chipman
Susan Mayse
Jamie Reid
Edward Loyst
Leslie Prpich
David Koulack
Lisa Leighton
Allan Briesmaster
Des Kennedy Barbara Scott
Kate Marshall Flaherty
Leanne Boschman
Ian Montagnes
Chris Turner
Heidi Greco
Farideh Kheradmand Herschel Hardin
Richard Pope
Andrea MacPherson
Welwyn Wilton Katz
Oana Avasilichioaei
Jamella Hagen Carl Hunter Di Brandt Pamela Kent
Michael Eden Reynolds
Donna Caruso
Rosella M Leslie
Henry Beissel
Gloria Lorenzen
Gill Foss
Layne Coleman
Judith Copithorne
Shelley Sanders Greer Merna Summers Geoff Kerson Sandra Janssen
John Ford
Ted Johns
Bernadette L. Wagner
Barbara Florio Graham
Monique Proulx
Durango Miller
Debra Ann March
Christine Foster
Derek Kilbourn Laurel Russwurm Gwenneth N. Steward
DC Reid (Permission to use this name to advance the cause: President, League of Canadian Poets)
Duane Radford
Stephane Thibault
E. Russell Smith
Laurel L. Russworm
Yvonne Blomer
Michael Shepherd David Fraser Gail de Vos Linda Lee Crosfield Max Wyman Liv Kennedy
Jane Goodwin
Ellen S. Jaffe
Susan Telfer
John Eerkes-Medrano
Jennifer Conklin
Jennifer Mitton
Karsten Heuer
Angela Hryniuk
Lenore Zann (MLA, NS)
Thelma Fayle
Andrew Brown
Mike Heenan
Lisa Brandt
Carol A. Stephen
Deirdre Kessler
Isobel Warren
Leona Theis
Beth Powning
Edward Butts
Brenda Kearns
Gordon Freeman
Jo Ellen Bogart
David McRae Amatoritsero Ede Edward Butts Peggy Fletcher Sheryl McFarlane Stephen Roxborough Mary Breslow
Sharon Pollock
Dorothy Rolin
Patricia A. Donahue
M. Wayne Cunningham
Kay Johnston
Sarah Weaver
Darryl McMahon
Peter Grauer
Nancy Holmes
Chris Brookes
David N. Docherty
Paul Hartal
Joyce Nelson
Marnie Parsons
James Durham
Ben Nuttall-Smith
Jane Bow
Jeanne Ainslie
Carmelita McGrath
A. Mary Murphy
Eva Tihanyi
Dr. Maxine Ruvinsky
Barbara Murray Charlotte Gray Steve Pitt Barry Grills Brian Vanderlip Noel Meyer Sharyn Heagle
Suzette Mayr
Maureen Moore
Mary Lou Dickinson
Joseph Nieforth
Anne Prange
Jane Hall
Bonnie Rogers
Betty L. Dyck
Carole Giangrande
Dennis J. Eastwood
Ursula Vaira
Ted Joslin
M.A.C. Farrant
Valerie Alia
Lesley Strutt
Rachna Gilmore
Isa Milman
Noel Meyer
Susan Olding
Valerie Adolph
Valerie Haig-Brown
Leslie Anthony
Anthony Dalton
Gloria Varley
Donald Gutstein
Joe Rosenblatt Carolyn Gossage
Will Stearn
Peri Phillips McQuay
Judith Benson
Dr. Roy Jensen
Anne Edwards
Romana Osborne
Graham Baugh
Martha Roth
Robert Graham
Reija J. Roberts
Laura Langston Rebecca Kool
Ron Johnson
Tina Keely
Pauline Comeau
Ed Overstreet
Andrew Robulack Betty Dyck Mimi Barbour Stephane Fortin Raul Galvaz N.A. Beach
Jessie Ellis
Kirk Harrop
Rifet Bahtijaragic
K. Louise
Joseph Jones
Daniel Bratton
Susan Fenner
R.P. MacIntyre
Sandra Alland
Minnie Grewal Elisabeth Vonarburg Paul C. Marriner
Opal Carew
Sonya Roy
Nicole Markotic
Damian Lopes
Jo Walton
William J. Bart
Shereen Vedam Dianne Joyce Judy Bagshaw Jane Covernton
Tamara Sheehan
Irene Allison
Helen Allison
Matt Beam
Heather Harbord
David R.M. Prest
Anita Louise Prest
Barbara Lambert
Sofie McGarry
Virginia Dansereau Bethany B. Keddy
Susan Lyons
Jessie B. Tyson
Ralph Perkins
Nora Mader
Hrant Alianak
June Cameron Bob Cockrell Marjorie Lindsey Joanne Arnott Alex Binkley
Allison Howard
Wendy Priesnitz
Kathleen Hamilton
Darlene Maynard
Guylaine Beaudry
Sandra Vogel-Hockley
Gordon Bailey
Peter Levitt
Ruth Bradley-St-Cyr
Penn Kemp
Chris Turner
Dianna L. Gunn
Keldine FitzGerald Brian Brett Judith Fitzgerald Allan Fotheringham Daphne Bourgeois Mary Soderstrom Patricia Pearson
Lenore Langs
Rosemary Danielis
Roy Miki
Margaret Slavin Diment
Maureen Hunter Dawn Service
Kico Gonzalez-Risso
Clea Roberts
Linda Rightmire
Robin McGrath Tricia Dower Bill Schermbrucker Darlene Maynard Myrl Coulter Maxie Liberman Michelle Mulder
Carol Matas
Maria Coletta McLean
Mary Alice Downie
Rex Deverell
Rick James
Caroline Woodward
Jocelyn Shipley
Paula Wild
Jennifer Crump
Linda L. Richards
Connie Marchand
Anne Fisher
Josephine Hammond
Joyce Gram
Dina E. Cox
Rachel Dunstan Muller
Jeanie Keogh
Gregory Caicco Gloria Snively
E.A. Morgan Judy Fong Bates
Lynn Westerhout Allegra Lance Maggie Paquet Anne Mason
Colleen Anderson
Tom Handford
Douglas Barbour
Claire Eamer
Maggie M. Paquet
Kathryn Bridge
Scott Karpes
Susan Andrews Grace
Michael Mitchell
Danda Humphreys
Irene Howard
Sarah Harvey
Jen Currin
Gordon D. Scott
Teressa Asensia
Rachel Gladstone-Gelman
David Lee
Derek Lundy
Phyllis Webb
Marya Fiamengo
Nadine Shelly
Mairuth Hodge Sarsfield
Brian Payton Elizabeth Ruth Patrick Lane Lorna Crozier M.C. Warrior
Michael Mitchell
Dennis Reid Colleen Curran
Derk Wynand
Erling Friis-Baastad
David Gow
Sarah Emsley
Robert Amos
Sarah Amos
Frances Itani
Joanne Bealy
Phil Hall
Jeanette Taylor
Tracy Kasaboski Nino Ricci David Zieroth
S.L. Sutherland
Roger Brunt
Silvia Ivanova
Katy Hutchison
Robin Hopper Susan Swan Peter Oliva Marcia Braundy Mansel Robinson Hazel Fulford Pam Bustin Jim Goldthorp Cathy Ford Susan McMaster Garth Martens Judith Coviensky
January 1st, 2010 at 5:01 pm
Please add my name to the list of authors opposed to Google
January 2nd, 2010 at 3:53 pm
Thank you Sarah for taking this on! Best Wishes!
Douglas Fevens,
Halifax, Nova Scotia
The University of Wisconsin, Google, & Me
January 4th, 2010 at 2:26 am
Please add my name to list of those objecting to the Google Book Settlement.
January 5th, 2010 at 5:58 pm
Please add my name to your list and thanks for your efforts.
January 6th, 2010 at 12:34 pm
Thank you for this.
January 6th, 2010 at 3:01 pm
[...] Sarah Sheard, The Authors Guild, The Nightingale and the Rose, USA by Laurel L. Russwurm Thanks to Sarah Sheard’s Writers Round Up and her links to the American National Writers Union I have just learned about the infamous Google [...]
January 6th, 2010 at 3:09 pm
Thank you for setting this up. Please add me to the list of the disgruntled, disappointed, and, well, dissed.
January 6th, 2010 at 3:12 pm
Please add my name to the list. Because time is of the essence I’ve written a blog post promoting this. Since the NWU “opt out” sample letter was read-only for my computer I re-typed it to make it easier for writers to use.
January 6th, 2010 at 5:08 pm
Please add my signature to this petition.
January 6th, 2010 at 5:26 pm
Please add my name to the list rejecting the Google settlement.
January 7th, 2010 at 5:22 am
Kindly add my name to the list of objectors. It is a criminal act that google proposes.
January 7th, 2010 at 10:14 am
Please add my name to the list of those opposed to the Google book settlement.
Ed Butts
Guelph, ON
January 7th, 2010 at 10:59 am
Please add my name to this petition. Thank you for your efforts.
January 7th, 2010 at 11:30 am
Thanks, Google’s deal would provide inadequate compensation for valuable work. It’s already difficult enough now to make a living as a writer; with the settlement, it would be so much worse.
January 7th, 2010 at 2:42 pm
please add my name to the list of those opposing google and their ripping off authors of any nationality, especially canadians.
January 7th, 2010 at 3:47 pm
Add my name to the the list of sane people opposing Google and their penchant for infringing on Canadian copyright.
January 7th, 2010 at 7:01 pm
Please add my name to the list of those opposing google and their arrogant proposal.
January 7th, 2010 at 7:13 pm
Google is big brother. Stop it
January 7th, 2010 at 9:55 pm
I’d like to have my name added to the list of writers opposing the Google settlement. Thanks.
January 7th, 2010 at 11:03 pm
I oppose my work being scanned into digital form without my permission.
January 8th, 2010 at 12:05 pm
[...] via Calling Canadian Writers: join our anti-Google petition! | Writers’ Roundup. [...]
January 9th, 2010 at 8:30 am
Add my name, please. Writers of the world, unite.
January 10th, 2010 at 5:55 am
Please add my name to the list.
January 12th, 2010 at 12:43 am
Please add mine to the list of names signing the petition again the Google agreement
January 13th, 2010 at 7:49 pm
Please add my name to this petition.
January 14th, 2010 at 1:05 pm
Add my name to the list of writers opposing the Google settlement.
January 18th, 2010 at 5:20 am
If nobody pays for books, why would anyone publish or print?
January 19th, 2010 at 6:21 pm
As an author of a best selling marine field guide as well as several marine education curriculum materials, and as an author who intends/hopes to write additional books, I strongly object to the Google Settlement. With regard to my own books, it has taken tens of thousands of dollars to pay for artwork, rights to photographs, travel requirements, etc. Authors take a great deal of risk and receive very small percentage royalties for their volumes of time and hard work. We simply cannot afford to provide free reading materials to the general public while Google profits. We need serious leadership and timely action. The Canadian Government needs to wake up! Remember 1812 and how Canadians put Washington on the level. Didn’t loyal Canadians invent the pitchfork and cross-border water valve? We are not a nation of idlers and patsys…. Aroused, writers and readers of our books are a mighty force indeed capable of a mighty boycott!
January 22nd, 2010 at 12:53 pm
Add me too, no way in hell are they getting their hands on my stuff
January 23rd, 2010 at 8:09 pm
I agree with the statement on this site. What Google wants is appalling and most definitely should not be allowed. Even IF what they say their intentions are, there should never be any wholesale giveaway of intellectual property rights. And I especially agree with what Gloria Snively said above. Please add my name to this petition. And thank you for giving me this opportunity.
Maggie M. Paquet/MAIA Publishing
January 24th, 2010 at 9:42 pm
Please add my name to the list.
January 25th, 2010 at 12:56 pm
Thanks for all your work on this.
January 27th, 2010 at 3:45 pm
Thank you for all your work on this issue, and please add my name to the petition. I have been grappling with this question for some months and with the positions taken by the various writers’ groups, but I finally got a chance, a bit belatedly, to read up more fully on Google and on the issue, and then the matter seemed clear. It helped me to write out my objections, which I’ve copied below for anyone who is interested.
1. PRECEDENT
Whatever the initial intentions of Google Books Library Project, the project was arguably illegal in its infringement of copyright, and at the very least constituted a serious abrogation of the traditional understanding of “fair use.” Since, under the settlement and its amendments, Google, in my understanding, has never admitted culpability in terms of the legality or conventionality of its actions, the settlement risks setting a dangerous precedent with regard to future rulings on copyright and on interpretations of such notions as “fair use.”
2. JURISDICTION
The settlement was reached between U.S. based groups with no consultation with groups outside the U.S., and has been scrutinized only by the U.S. courts. There seems no legal or ethical basis, therefore, for the inclusion in the agreement of territories outside the U.S. It is unclear to me, then, why Canada, along with Australia and Great Britain, remains included in the settlement, and has not lobbied to be removed from it as Ireland, India, New Zealand, and South Africa have successfully done.
3. COMPLEXITY
It is unreasonable to expect us to come to grips with an agreement of this level of complexity—and set in out in terms most of us have had no say in negotiating—within time limits we have had no say in setting. In any event, given that the issues the settlement raises are entirely new and that the full consequences of the settlement are not reasonably foreseeable by anyone at this point, though are potentially vast, we are essentially being asked to make decisions blindly, with no reliable information about outcomes on which to base those decisions.
4. NEGATIVE OPTION
Placing the onus on writers to opt out of an agreement that materially affects our rights but which we did not initiate and which we have had no say in negotiating is at the very least unethical and is arguably illegal, under the same arguments that have been made, for instance, in outlawing negative option marketing in Canada.
5. MONOPOLY
Google currently represents an unprecedented concentration of information and knowledge within very few hands, a concentration that stands to be greatly enhanced through the Google Book project. To date, it has had relatively little government oversight. Increasingly, it is taking on functions and powers that have traditionally been those of public institutions, even though it is a for-profit corporation with primary responsibility to its shareholders rather than to the public good.
Google derives some 98% of its income from advertising. In others words, it creates value for itself using content it has not created, does not own, and has not received permission to use, namely the contents of the internet, and it does so essentially by selling information to advertisers that it has gleaned from user searches. Google Books would greatly extend the content-base against which Google could accumulate information, and hence greatly increase its value and profitability. Given the leadership Google now enjoys in terms of search, and the unprecedented resources it is able to mobilize for projects like Google Books, there is a real risk that the company will come to occupy a near monopoly position in terms of the world’s digital knowledge, opening up the chance for serious abuse. With regard to Google Books, writers may find themselves in a position where their works are being used to generate advertising income for Google in ways over which they have no control and that may run entirely counter to their own ethics or beliefs.
January 28th, 2010 at 10:52 am
Please add my name. I’m objecting to Google’s invasion of our cultural sovereignty.
January 28th, 2010 at 12:13 pm
Thank you for your work on this issue. Please add my name to the list of Canadian writers in opposition to the Google settlement.
February 3rd, 2010 at 7:49 am
Google is insidious
March 23rd, 2010 at 1:09 am
The Comite Action Civique (C’est assez!) add a link about your petition on our website.
Montreal city
Best regard.
Gaétan
June 29th, 2010 at 1:31 pm
The Comite Action Civique (C’est assez!) add a link about your petition on our website.
Montreal city