Is Google's scanning of millions of the world's books a good thing or a bad thing?
The subject of several lawsuits, it promises to make available information in libraries around the world - but should the copyright holders have any say in the matter? And is it a good idea to put all this information only in the hands of one, profit-making company?
All of these questions and more are examined in the new documentary Google and the World Brain, which is showing this year at Sundance.
The filmmakers describe it like this:
The story of the most ambitious project ever conceived on the Internet, and the people who tried to stop it. In 1937 HG Wells predicted the creation of the "World Brain", a giant global library that contained all human knowledge which would lead to a new form of higher intelligence.
Seventy year later the realisation of that dream was underway, as Google scanned millions and millions of books for its Google Books website.
But over half those books were still in copyright, and authors across the world launched a campaign to stop them, climaxing in a New York courtroom in 2011. A film about the dreams, dilemmas and dangers of the Internet, set in spectacular locations in China, USA, Europe and Latin America.
It certainly looks like a great watch - if nothing else, for the stunning libraries around the world featured as backdrops, as well as a close look at Google's scanning technology.
Watch the trailer above, and see images of the film's locations:
