Coming to you (almost live) from today's UC Berkeley School of Information conference on "The Google Books Settlement and the Future of Information Access."

The University Librarian of the University of California at Berkeley says he believes Google when it says the Google Books product will protect users' privacy, especially in light of other privacy policies Google already has, "but I would like to believe them more."

"What we all need is for Google to move forward in articulating and finding new narratives to reassure" those who have concerns about the privacy implications of the Google Books service, said Tom Leonard, pointing to the Center for Democracy and Technology's proposed privacy recommendations as a possible plan.

Others appearing on the panel "Privacy and the Google Books Settlement"—including Angela Maycock from the American Library Association, Jason Schultz of UC Berkeley's Samuelson Law, Technology, and Public Policy Clinic, and Michael Zimmer, an Information Studies at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee—said Google should go beyond simply asserting they will protect users' privacy and make actual commitments as to what they will do.

The privacy issues surrounding the Google Books Settlement have gained steam as the September 4 deadline for submitting briefs to the New York district court reviewing the settlement approaches.

Google has said before it can't create a privacy policy for a product that doesn't exist yet. Google Books engineering director Dan Clancy, who was at today's panel, reiterated that position.

Photo credit: gj_theWhite