Google Book Search hack

The day after Google launched Google Print last year, we blogged, "Google says it has disabled printing and image-copying when browsing book pages, but we'll see how long that lasts." Now we know.

From a November 18 posting on the CustomizeGoogle blog:

CustomizeGoogle 0.38 makes it easy to removes [sic] image copying restrictions in Google Book Search.

Thanks to Gary Price in yesterday's Search Engine Watch. Here's more from his story:

I don't believe this feature allows you to print Google Book Search content by just clicking and selecting print. When I tested, I didn't see pages from a book but only the material surrounding the actual page. However, using the right-click menu (now easily enabled for CustomizedGoogle) and placing a cursor on a page from a book, I was able to quickly isolate the page (as a JPEG file) and then print, save, convert, etc. I was also able to isolate direct urls to book pages and send them via email. You can even save book pages as wallpaper on your PC....Of course, limits about how many in-copyright "Sample Pages" you can view are still in place and the "copyrighted material" text is still visible on each page. Google Book Search does offer the full view of public domain materials. It will be interesting to see how (if at all) Google and participating publishers respond to this new option since it's coming from such a highly lauded software program.