Controversy Comes to Document Imaging

Document imaging is not usually considered a controversial subject, but the argument between authors and Google has been pretty heated over the past few years--and it is also a reminder that security of imaged documents is always a concern.

It all started when Google got the bright idea to scan library books and make them available on the Internet. This seemed like a great public service, but what about the authors who wrote those books? Essentially, their work would be given away for free.

Google argued hard and publicly for their side, as did certain authors and authors unions. A major leage copyright suit ensued. And was only recently settled. Read the whole settlement here (if you have a few spare months on your hands).

The upshot of the judge's decision is that the program to scan books and put them on the Web, Google Books, can and will continue. But Google will have to pay a royalty to authors, and can only use small portions of scanned books, unless they get explicit permission to use the whole text from the author or the author's representative.

Check out Google Books here, and consider, too, how this issue might affect your own document imaging situation. Many organizations, for example, use document scanning and imaging to retain sensitive and private data, such as medical records or legal paperwork.

The whole thing is just one more reminder that if you're thinking about document imaging, you need to be thinking about document security. Because far from disappearing once documents go into the computer, they might just live forever, available to everyone.

If they make it onto the World Wide Web.