MovieChat Forums > Google and the World Brain (2013) Discussion > 0/5 Good topic, very poorly done.

0/5 Good topic, very poorly done.

posted 10 years ago by kuntext
1 reply | jump to latest

Despite an interesting topic, an international viewpoint and seemingly caring and knowledgeable participants, this documentary is an epic failure. What is its point?

-the sky is falling
-watch out for big brother
-keep an eye on your wallet
-privacy is gone
-we are all fodder for government and business (Oh, we already knew that.)

The potential problems presented are all workable, yet the documentary take a cataclysmic view on what seem like challenges.

The copyright/financial issue is simple. Pay the royalties or change the copyright system.

When a book is in the library, it might affect sales, but probably not. Those who can afford to buy, tend to buy. The books should be available, in their entirety, online, not in snippets. There is no practical difference between reading a free book online or in a building, except access. Some people aren't near a library.

An easy solution would seem to be an agreement, upon publishing, which includes a donation date, as determined by the stakeholders (author, publisher), when the book will become public domain. Oh, that already exists.

So, to me, this documentary is more about pirating of books, just as happens with videos. We need a new vision of "fair." This documentary lacks focus.

[–] Fuzagi 10 years ago

I agree. Intellectual Property is a pretty new field. The Law has yet to catch up.

Simply stated by the Harvard Professor (near the end of the movie) "I must commend google [however] that if they had not run amok with this attempt Governments and public libraries would not have taken the initiative to digitize.

So for once, I commend Google!