The Germans are taking on Google, and good for them. The German Cabinet agreed Wednesday to a plan that would fund the digitization of books, pictures, sculptures, notes, music and films and make them available on the Internet. Culture Minister Bernd Neumann called the project a “quantum leap into the world of digital information.
The project, called the German Digital Library (DDB), would go online in 2011 and play a major role in the preservation of Germany’s cultural identity, Neumann added. Initial funding of 5 million euros ($7.6 million) as well as annual costs of 2.6 million euros will come from a German economic bail-out program and be split by the federal and state governments.
Unlike Google’s plan of stealing of copyrighted works and then letting authors opt them out , the German plan will first seek copyright holders’ approval before digitizing a work.
Thanks to Resource Shelf for the heads-up.
