More on Google and the digital jungle: other mysteries, news and trends

Abstract

The "digital jungle" always reserves surprises, shifts and new trends. An important phenomenon requiring more attention is the so-called copyfraud, i.e. practices intended to defraud the public of the free use of materials in the public domain. In Google Books, e.g., a very large number of books and journals out of copyright are no more freely downloadable because they are "covered" by recent facsimile publications, offered by print-on-demand. Other limitations are applied by Google Books to Italian (and European) users, denying access to public domain publications from about 1865 up to 1922 (or, in some cases, to 1908).
At every step it becomes more evident that the illusions about a sort of "Santa Claus" digital library were misplaced and that we must work, as soon as possible, for public digital library services, that will never come from Google.
The changes being made by Google show a shift from information retrieval to the sale of digital entertainment (Google Play) and the production of devices (smartphones, and probably tablets). These trends are common to other corporations (Apple, Facebook).
While big corporations shift towards the production and sale of toys for grown-ups and products of mass entertainment, the responsibility for public digital library services returns to libraries and their cooperation, with projects like the Digital Public Library of America.