As promised, I’m exploring here Google Books from another POV + some articles on copyright.
Let’s start with copyright. I urge you to read this excellent article by Brad Templeton that really tells everything about it. That’s why it’s called “copyright myths” or
An attempt to answer common myths about copyright seen on the net and cover issues related to copyright and USENET/Internet publication.
Then move on to Colleen Doran, writer and artist who had her own issues with bad publishers and copyright breach. Hear her talk about felony copyright violation and piracy (mostly the online piracy). I don’t use any file-sharing program and I’m probably one of the few who still buys Cds, DVDs and books instead of downloading for free, but I believe it’s tough to live on royalties and I don’t want to deprive any author if what is rightfully his/hers. Let’s face it, we don’t do it for the art. We need to eat and pay our bills too. As the old-fashioned-Mecenate are gone, we better try to earn those darn royalties! Oh, and the previous link was taken from this article, so if you find it when reading, it’s the Brad Templeton copy-myth piece.
About piracy, you can read Colleen’s article on piracy and from there we jump to what I had promised, i.e. google Books from the author’s POV: here are the reasons she gives to opt out of Google Books as an author. Colleen is very smart and legal savvy, check her blog if you have any doubts about scams or copyright… she’s my warrior woman! 
And her graphic novel is just great…
Cassandra Jade
/ May 22, 2010I think there are still quite a few of us who still buy our CD’s and DVD’s. Certainly there are plenty of us still out there buying books (just try to get into a bookstore during lunch hour in Brisbane). I have to admit, music and movies I’m buying in digital forms more often than not now (though through legal channels) and I’m starting to think I’m going to head that way with books. It is just easier now that I live hours from anywhere that I can buy them.
Thanks for sharing these links. I’ll have to check them out.
Barb
/ May 22, 2010bookshops are never very busy in Italy, but then… Italians don’t read much, apparently! I buy most of the things online (through Amazon, usually), because I can’t find them here anyway (there are some English bookshops like the Lion’s Bookshop and the Anglo-American Bookshop, but they’re small, and they might have to order them too) – especially DVDs (Italian editions usually suck, they either lack the original audio or subtitles or whatever…).
I think international copyright and piracy are big issues, though. Please do check those links and you’re welcome to share them some more! Spread the word!
Stephen Watkins
/ May 22, 2010It might be somewhat useful to point out, under the circumstances, that US copyright and European copyright are not always congruous. Our laws are very different, whatever the Berne convention says…
Barb
/ May 23, 2010Colleen’s point when she says an American illustrator had her works “stolen” by a British… I guess there’s still lot of work to do with international copyright on the internet. The web goes everywhere, sometimes even in countries that don’t apply Berne’s convention, so…
ollinmorales
/ May 24, 2010I am guilty of downloading music for free in college, but it was a norm back then, also before they started to track down those people and fine them for illegally downloading music. But i’m not giving excuses. The reason I stopped is exactly what you said, musicians are artists, and if I want to expect to be paid for my art and all the hard work I put into it, then I should compensate other artists for doing the same.
Barb
/ May 24, 2010creative people MUST support other creative people!