Once Again @Alalibrary Have No Dog in Fight but Come out Against Authors on Copyright Small Claims

Dear Google…er…uh-I mean American Library Association:

Really? The American Library Association and it’s members are really gonna be impacted by a voluntary “small claims” copyright court? How? How could this possibly have any impact on your member libraries? This is quite a stretch even by Google apparatchik standards.

While there will always be plenty of money for DC lobbyist like you, the same cannot be said for your members. The average community library relies on the goodwill of authors, publishers and ordinary citizens. In the US authors do not charge libraries a lending fee. When the local community library faces budget cuts or threatened with closure, it’s authors who go out and march in the streets. So why does the ALA insist on alienating authors?

Where IS the ALA when misfortune befalls member libraries? Not marching in the street. I imagine we’re more likely to find you with your snout in the trough at some K street restaurant, than marching in the street.

So let’s get to the point. Why don’t you fucks just come out and admit it? You don’t give a shit about your member libraries, authors or readers. You apparently just do what Google tells you to do. Even if that hurts libraries in the long run. How can any sensible person conclude otherwise? And come clean on where you get your policy direction. Every single one of the co-signers on this latest letter is directly or indirectly funded by Google. You don’t even try to hide it. Look, here’s a picture from two weeks ago, ALA staff with Katherine Oyama, senior policy counsel for Google and a few other Google funded lobbyists. Just stop. Stop the charade. Stop misleading your members about what you are really doing and for whom you are working.