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Tech Weekly: The Open Book Alliance fight Google’s book search plans

Peter Brantley of the Open Book Alliance explains why the Internet Archive, Microsoft, Yahoo, Amazon, librarians, writers and publishers are challenging Google’s plans to build a book search. Also, Matt Mason – author of The Pirate’s Dilemma – discusses copyright
  
  


Google and copyright are the main issues in this week's podcast. Bobbie Johnson stands in again for Aleks, and he talks to Peter Brantley. Brantley works for the Internet Archive and is one of the men leading a number of organisations as part of the Open Book Alliance.

Google started a project to scan in millions of books from libraries around the world a few years ago, and despite a compromise with the Association of American Publishers and the Authors Guild, parties such as Microsoft, Amazon, Yahoo, librarians, writers and smaller publishers were unhappy with Google's plans. Bobbie finds out what their problem is with the settlement, and finds out what it's like to take on the internet's most powerful company.

Also in this week's programme, Kevin Anderson talks to Matt Mason about piracy and copyright. The issue remains a hot topic following the news that the British government is once again stepping up attempts to crack down on illegal filesharers. Mason is a former pirate radio DJ turned author, and believes that piracy is one of the biggest movements in modern life. He argues that youth culture is the driving force behind innovation and that piracy and remixing is fast becoming just another business model.

We also hear from Richard Wray, who updates Guardian Daily's Jon Dennis on the three-year struggle of a British price comparison website to become recognised by the world's largest search engine.

As ever, there's this week's news - including Nokia's entry to the computer business, Apple's latest OS update and how Google was ordered to unmask an anonymous blogger who called someone a "psychotic, lying, whoring skank".

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