"Google's Book Search promises to save writers' and publishers' asses by putting their books into the index of works that are visible to searchers who get all their information from the Internet. In response, publishers and writers are suing Google, claiming that this ass-saving is in fact a copyright violation. When you look a little closer, though, you see that the writer/publisher objections to Google amount to nothing more than rent-seeking: an attempt to use legal threats to milk Google for some of the money it will make by providing this vital service to us ink-stained scribblers. " BoingBoing.

The wrench in machine, that publishers don't want to highlight, is that online markets of used books are being tapped to acquire books discovered online via Google, thereby cutting publishers off from alot (speculation) of the revenue available because of Google's project. Theoreticlly books can be resold over and over again to meet need, and publishers will never see a dime of this additional revenue. The rule thus becomes, the more copies sold initially, the less possibility there is to tab the new demand for older titles no longer in print.

Yeah, I'd be mad too and try to put a stop to it.