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In article >, wrote:

> Anthony > wrote:
> > The ability through Amazon to look inside many of their books seems to me
> > an
> > awesome research tool. For example there was a recent thread in which the
> > OP wanted info about bouillabaisse; I went to Amazon, looked up the Oxford
> > Companion to Food and was able to bring up the piece on bouillabaisse.
> > Maybe this is old hat to some of you, but it was the first time I'd used it
> > and I was amazed!
>
> The ability to search actual book contents on Amazon.com is a fairly new
> feature. It
> became available two or three months ago. From what I have read in the news,
> many
> book publishers are against the idea. I do not blame them. I suspect this
> feature
> will either end entirely or be paired back soon because it does really
> violate
> copyright laws, in my opinion.

How is this different than what happens every day in bookstores? People
walk in, pick up books and start reading. You could argue that computer
access allows easier copying. But a customer could also circumvent
copyright by bringing a digicam or pocketable scanner into a bookstore.

The main differences for the Amazon store is (a) the convenience factor,
and (b) that users can perform computerized searches within the texts of
the books. Maybe that poses new issues for copyright law.

--
Julian Vrieslander