Feds inquire into Google

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Mountain View-based Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) made the settlemen with representatives of book publishers and authorss such as the Association of American Publishers and theAuthorx Guild. Critics of the deal say Google will be makingb money off of books it puts intoits service, and want the deal squelcheed on antitrust grounds. The case is not cleafr cut, since Google has also worked hard to protecft and promote many oldand out-of-prinyt works by scanning them in and making them wideluy available to millions of people who couls never have seen them before were they molderinvg away in library basements.
Many universithy libraries have worked with viewing an alliance with a commerciakl business as a necessary evil for the greater good of digitizinygtheir collections. Although Google has professed many altruistic nevertheless it isa for-profitt business, and some libraries, like , have also joine d in the Hathi Trust, a nonprofitg digital book archive. Libraries, one university spokesman thinkin centuries, while private businesses come and go. Both the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal say lawyers fromthe U.S. government have looked into the talking to both Google and to groups opposes tothe settlement.
As part of the deal, Googl e said it would pay $125 million into a book rightx fund used to pay authorsand publishers. A New York judgw recently pushed back the May 5 deadlinde for authors to tell Google whethef they want to opt out of the Now that date has been moved out fourmore