Copyfightin' Canadian law prof Michael Geist has a modest proposal for Canada's digital strategy: digitise every Canadian book, ever:
While digitally scanning more than 10 million Canadian books and
documents is a daunting task, the Google project illustrates that it
is financially feasible. Reports suggest that it will cost Google
approximately $10 to scan each book.Assuming similar costs for a Canadian project and a five-year
timeline, the $20 million annual price tag represents a fraction of
the total governmental commitment toward Canadian culture and
Internet development.In fact, the most significant barriers to a national digital library
do not arise from fiscal challenges but rather from two potential
copyright reforms currently winding their way through the system.
Link to article mirror on Interesting People list; original is behind dumb-ass registration system
