Since last spring, Google has held discussions with a number of groups about its privacy practices for Google Books. Google has also offered some preliminary thoughts about what privacy protections the company wants to build into services authorized by the settlement.

While Google Books has always been covered by the general privacy policy for all Google services, Google understands that privacy in reading records is especially important to readers and libraries, according to Jane Horvath, global privacy counsel for Google.

A Preemptive Strike

Horvath said Google knows users want to understand how its privacy practices apply to Google Books today and what will happen after the settlement. Google has offered a FAQ that highlights key provisions in the main Google privacy policy for the Google Books service, as well as privacy practices specific to Google Books.

"As we noted in our letter to the FTC, because the settlement agreement has not yet been approved by the court, and the services authorized by the agreement have not been built or even designed yet, it's not possible to draft a final privacy policy that covers details of the settlement's anticipated services and features," Horvath said.

"Our privacy policies are usually based on detailed review of a final product -- and on weeks, months or years of careful work engineering the product itself to protect privacy," she said. "In this case, we've planned in advance for the protections that will later be built, and we've described some of those in the Google Books policy."

NWU Fights Back

But the fight isn't over. On Friday, the National Writers Union (NWU) joined the Open Book Alliance, a coalition of writer organizations, librarians, activists, legal scholars, and corporations who object to the proposed Google Book settlement.

"We are happy to join the Open Book Alliance, which shares many of our concerns about the proposed Google Book settlement," said Larry Goldbetter, president of NWU/UAW Local 1981. "The proposed settlement is patently unfair to writers and could set a dangerous legal precedent."

Calling on Al Gore

Earlier this week, the NWU called on former Vice President Al Gore, in his capacity as a senior adviser to Google, to use his influence to urge Google to seek a delay in the settlement proceedings. The NWU announced its objection to the proposed settlement last month.

"Google's book-scanning project is one of the largest cases of copyright infringement since the United States Constitution was adopted in 1789," Goldbetter said. "The multibillion-dollar corporation scanned more than seven million different books without permission from the copyright owners. In an attempt to placate its victims, Google is throwing some crumbs to writers."

Google had a net income of more than $4.5 billion last year. It is offering writers as little as $60 per infringed book and $15 per infringed article, according to the NWU's estimates. "It's a bad deal," Goldbetter said. "Along with the other members of the Open Book Alliance, the National Writers Union wants to promote a fair alternative to the proposed settlement."