Could someone here please explain why this isn't copyright infringement? Aren't they taking other peoples work without permission, scanning it and making it publicly available? Also, presumably all of this works draws more traffic to Googles website, bringing them profits from advertising? I can imagine if a company that was less powerful than Google did this somebody would have huge fines and possible imprisonment.<p>And please spare me your "information should be free" arguments or the possible "benefits" to society. I'm well aware of those arguments but current law protects the individual against society raiding their work for its own benefit. Its a basic foundation that so much of our law has been built upon. So I'm interested in things as they are now, current copyright law, and not how you would like it to be as an outsider that would profit from more liberal copyright laws.
FYI, here's the Google Books landing page: <a href="http://books.google.com/bkshp?hl=en&tab=wp&authuser=0&ei=EfyEUvv2Fqv54AOH6IDACQ&ved=0CBAQqS4oDQ" rel="nofollow">http://books.google.com/bkshp?hl=en&tab=wp&authuser=0&ei=Efy...</a><p>What was once a nobel effort to index old books has turned into a front for the Google Play Store. Sad.