Google, who perhaps more so than any other web site portal, is relentlessly accused of copyright infringement. With that said, Google may be stepping out of the preverbal frying pan and into the fire with their quest to assemble a digital library. This quest has set in motion a philosophical debate with a substitute project promising greater online access to the world's books, art and historical documents.

The most recent pressure stem from Google's insistence on linking the digital content to its search engine, and the nine major libraries that have aligned themselves with the search giant.

A group called the Open Content Alliance favors a less restrictive approach to prevent accumulated knowledge of all human history from being controlled by a commercial company, even if it's a company like Google that has embraced "Don't Be Evil" as its creed.

"You are talking about the fruits of our civilization and culture. You want to keep it open and certainly don't want any company to enclose it," said Doron Weber, program director of public understanding of science and technology for the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

A foundation announced last Wednesday, a $1 million grant to the Internet Archive, a leader in the Open Content Alliance, to help pay for digital copies of compilations owned by the Boston Public Library, the Getty Research Institute, the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Some of the pieces to be scanned are the personal library of President John Adams and thousands of images from the Metropolitan Museum.

Google's restrictions on its digital book copies stem in part from the company's decision to scan copyrighted material without explicit permission. Google wants to ensure only small excerpts from the copyrighted material appear online - snippets that the company believes fall under "fair use" protections of U.S. law. I expect that this policy, in addition to the fact that much of the material’s copyright protection had expired many years ago, might help Google avert another major law suit.