While I think digitization of otherwise inaccessible books can be a Good Thing™, I have to concur that on a fundamental level the Google agreement appears to violate copyright.
To be specific: if the agreement goes through, everyone except Google is required to get an author's and/or publisher's explicit consent to convert and distribute a digital version of the book. Google, on the other hand, is requiring everyone to
opt out. It's unclear to me why Google should receive such special dispensation; if B&N or Amazon started selling a ton of ebooks by authors without their explicit consent, then even if the authors were getting royalties I'm sure they would be up in arms. As would the Author's Guild....
And it's unclear whether anyone else who scans a bunch of out-of-print books will get the same deal as Google, assuming anyone has the time or resources to replicate the effort.
Separately, I find it highly amusing that the Author's Guild is faulting Amazon for trying to keep its status as the (US) ebook market leader. Almost every major player in the ebook field right now (e.g. Amazon, Sony, Google, B&N) would love to spend the next 5-10 years dominating the ebook market. It's like lambasting a political party for trying to get and hold a majority.
