Merkel opposes Google's book scan project

Google Inc’s plan to scan millions of books to create a digital library was criticised by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who said copyright laws must be respected online.

“Copyright laws need a place in the Internet too,” Merkel said in a presentation posted on her website today. “We reject simply scanning books without any kind of copyright protection like Google is doing.”

Opposition to Google’s $125-million agreement with publishers and authors to establish a “Book Rights Registry” to identify and pay rights holders has pushed the Mountain View, California-based company to modify the settlement to take into account criticisms from around the globe. The German government is committed to making its position on copyright law clear to protect German authors, Merkel said in the video, made for addressing the Frankfurt Book Fair on October 14 to 18.

Merkel said she expects “controversial discussions” about freedom of opinion in China and she’ll stress to Chinese officials that such freedom “isn’t a threat, but a chance.”

FCC sends letter to Google on voice application
Meanwhile, US regulators have requested information from Google Inc on its voice application after AT&T Inc and some lawmakers said the service improperly blocks rural calls and sought an investigation. Google was asked to explain how calls are routed, the ways the company charges for features and how the service fits in with communications regulations, in a letter from the Federal Communications Commission today. The agency asked Mountain View, California-based Google to respond by October 28. Twenty members of Congress asked the FCC in a letter dated October 7 to examine reports of blocking calls, which they said may stifle competition.

The concerns are similar to those expressed to the agency by AT&T, which said in a September 25 letter that Google Voice breaks FCC rules that forbid telephone companies to block calls. Google Voice lets customers use one phone number to get calls on multiple devices and to access voice mail.

The company restricts calls to numbers that “charge exorbitant” rates and that partner with “sex chat lines and ‘free’ conference calling centres,” Google said in a response on its policy blog.