Speaking

ROLE PLAY: This role play is to discuss whether or not Google should scan millions of books and put them online. Team up with classmates who have been assigned the same role as you. Develop your roles and discuss ideas and “strategies” before the role play begins.

Introduce yourself to the other role players.

Role A – Google Print Boss You think all of the words books should be available online. New writers will get their books exposed worldwide. World literacy rates will rise. World education will improve. Publishers will sell more paper books. The future is digital. THINK OF MORE REASONS WHY GOOGLE PRINT IS GREAT.

Role B – Student You are fed up with over-priced textbooks and reading books. The new Harry Potter book is ridiculously expensive. Google Print will mean you can read more books and get better grades and a better job. You can also get out-of-print books that publishers no longer make profits from. THINK OF MORE REASONS WHY YOU LOVE GOOGLE PRINT.

Role C – Publisher You want to take Google to court over copyright infringement. You think Google believes it is above the law and can do what it wants with the Internet. You are worried placing books on the Web will kill the publishing industry. Book companies are the life blood for new and established writers. THINK OF MORE REASONS WHY GOOGLE PRINT IS BAD.

Role D – Writer You think Google has just ended your career. You will not be able to make any money if your books are available for free on the Internet. You believe Google Print will deter any future writers from writing. Accuse Google Print of killing the future of world literature. THINK OF MORE REASONS WHY WRITERS MUST BE PAID FOR THEIR BOOKS.

Change roles and repeat the role play. Comment in groups about the differences between the two role plays.

In pairs / groups, discuss whether you really believe in what you said while you were in your roles.

Reading

Read and fill in the spaces.

Google delays book scanning

Google’s ______ aim of scanning millions of books, to be freely searchable on the Internet, has encountered a major ______. Publishers are up in arms over what they see as flagrant violations of copyright. They fear the ____________ of copyrighted books will seriously damage publishing, ______ __ how illegal downloading and pirating has _________ the music industry. Google Print involves scanning books from the university libraries of Harvard, Stanford, Michigan and Oxford. Google said it is using the books legitimately under the “____ ____” copyright law, which allows people to reproduce small amounts of copyrighted material for personal use. Google has _________ scanning the books until November and has asked publishers to say which copyrighted material cannot be used.

Publishers are ______ at what they perceive as Google’s attempt at __________ copyright law by placing the _____ on writers to seek out instances of infringement. Industry analysts put the disagreement down to _________ copyright laws that are centuries old. Legal procedures to cope with the ___________ speed of developments in electronic information cannot be enacted in time to ___________ intellectual copyright. A Google press release stated: “We’re going to continue talking about Google Print with our partners and the publishing industry. These discussions have been ________ in helping to build a program that benefits the industry and, most important, the millions of users who’ll be able to ________ new books.”