CENSORSHIP BY GOOGLE THREATENS TO DERAIL LIBRARY PROJECT
Universities' and Libraries' Decision to Partner With Google Inconsistent With Non-Profit
Status; Censorship Conflicts With Institutions' Academic Mission
SEPTEMBER 22, 2005, — Los Angeles
Public Interest Watch ("PIW") today warned Harvard University, Stanford University, the University of
Michigan, and the New York Public Library against turning over their research collections to Google,
Inc. for inclusion its Internet databases. PIW demanded that each institution receive an iron-clad
guarantee from Google that the full contents of its collections would be used in its entirety for
public benefit and would remain completely uncensored.
PIW Executive Director Lewis Fein commented, "Google stands to make a fortune from this partnership, but
what's in it for the taxpayers who have subsidized these collections?
And what business does a university or a library have in affiliating with an $84 billion for-profit company that openly and willingly censors data to protect its market share?"
Researchers at Harvard University conducted a study that revealed that Google routinely censors its databases. Since 2004, Google has cooperated with the Chinese government to censor the data it allows Chinese consumers to see. In return, Google enjoys broad, lucrative access to the Chinese marketplace. Google also censors data in France and Germany and, in 2002, it blocked access to Internet sites critical of the Church of Scientology rather than face the expense and distraction of a potentially frivolous lawsuit.
Fein noted, "All Google cares about is making a profit. Faced with the choice of defending free and open access to a book or manuscript, or censoring it to avoid conflict, controversy, or expense, Google has demonstrated that censorship is its preferred option."
In addition to the research collections at Harvard University, Stanford University, the University of Michigan, and the New York Public Library, Oxford University in England is also planning to surrender its collection to Google.
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* To obtain a copy of the PIW letter(s) for publication, please contact Lewis Fein at (310)-472-0520 or lewisafein@aol.com.
