Google and the world brain

In 2007, Google launched a massive project to scan millions of books from university library collections. But when it was discovered that over half of the first ten million books Google scanned were still in copyright, authors from around the world joined together to wage a fierce legal battle against the Internet giant, culminating in a courtroom showdown in 2011. This film covers the struggle over intellectual property and access to human knowledge, offering insights into broader debates surrounding data-mining and privacy, downloading and copyright, fair use, freedom and surveillance.