Listen here: http://www.kqed.org/epArchive/R909080900

According to linguist Geoffrey Nunberg, Google's book search is well on its way to becoming "the world's largest digital library" -- but not without controversy. Tuesday is the last day to file comments with a U.S. District Court on a class action lawsuit between Google and several authors and publishers. Google has reached a settlement with these industry partners, and hopes to build its online library as a service to the public good. But opponents of the deal claim it gives Google a monopoly over digitized books. We discuss the settlement and what it means for authors.

Guests:

• Edward Hasbrouck, writer and co-chair of the Books Division for The National Writers Union, which opposes the Google Books settlement
• James Gleick, author and board member of the Authors Guild
• Pamela Samuelson, professor at UC Berkeley's Boalt Hall School of Law
• Tom Krazit, staff writer for CNET.com