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Several new stories concerning the well-known search engine.

US college backs Google Book plan

A leading US academic has defended Google's controversial plan to digitise the contents of major libraries.

Speaking to the Association of American Publishers, which is suing Google, Mary Sue Coleman called Google Book Search "legal, ethical and noble".

Hmm, sounds so wonderful doesn't it? But recent actions by Google leave me suspicious.

The company insists it will not allow copyright infringement, describing Google Book Search as a "book-finding tool, not a book-reading-tool".

It wasn't long ago that Google was saying that it doesn't censor search results but that has changed since they started doing business with Communist China as I covered in a previous post:

...Google who has now had to take down their “we don’t censor” message because it just isn’t true any more is the same company

But clearly others are suspicious as the story continues:

also seeks a court order preventing Google from digitising copyrighted books without permission of the copyright owner.

There also remain fears that Google intends to place adverts on search result pages, in effect generating lucrative revenue even as it "infringes" copyright.

"The bottom line is that under its current plan Google is seeking to make millions of dollars by freeloading on the talent and property of authors and publishers," said AAP President Patricia Schroeder.

I think we want to buy books critical of China before Google gets a bit too much control over such matters. Rollover with your mouse to gain a preview of what might come.

Another item in the news is Dell in search tests with Google. Now this one really irritates me as I've had good luck with Dell and as my readers know, Google has done enough lately that I disagree with, that I removed Google Adsense from my blog.

Computer-maker Dell is running tests with Google to see if it will install the firm's software on its products.

Dell said it was evaluating Google's search tools, both for the web and for documents stored on the PC.

Dell may want to re-consider having this anchor attached to it, as the article mentions Googles stock price has suffered of late.

Google's shares have fallen since the firm disappointed Wall Street with its earnings report last week.

The stock dropped 4.5% to $367.92 on Tuesday.

There is something else that Dell should think about as it contemplates getting involved with the search giant. Rollover and see what may await them.