Cecilia Kang provided a primer on Google’s efforts to digitize books in libraries throughout the world. The Google Book Search project was started in 2004 and within less than a year a class action suit was levied against the company for copyright infringement by the Association of American Publishers and the Author’s Guild. In October 2008 the parties agreed to a class action settlement. However, there were several opponents to the settlement, including authors, publishers, Google’s business competitors, and the Department of Justice which initiated an antitrust investigation. Ms. Kang presented details of the case and the current status of the settlement. Topics included consumer issues, business competition, copyright, and regulatory issues. 
Cecilia Kang is a technology reporter for the Washington Post, where she writes the “Post Tech” column.