The Heidelberg Appeal is a sign-on petition (in German) against Google Books which appeared recently on the web site of Heidelberg's Institut für Textkritik (ITK). The gist of it is that Google Books violates copyright and the freedom of authors. But in an aside it criticizes the Allianz der deutschen Wissenschaftsorganisationen (Alliance for German Science Organizations) for advocating an unlawful interference with the freedom of authors, apparently by supporting OA. Read the petition in German or Google's English.
The authors of the petition do not identify themselves. It may be a coincidence, but ITK is the home institution of Roland Reuß, who triggered an intense controversy with a jeremiad against OA last month in the Frankfurter Allgemeiner Zeitung. He has also condemned Google Books.
PS: Also see our past posts on the Allianz der deutschen Wissenschaftsorganisationen.
The open access movement:
Putting peer-reviewed scientific and scholarly literature
on the internet. Making it available free of charge and
free of most copyright and licensing restrictions.
Removing the barriers to serious research.
I recommend the OA tracking project (OATP) as the best way to stay on top of new OA developments. You can read the OATP feed on a blog-like web page or subscribe to it by RSS, email, or Twitter. You can also help build the feed by tagging new developments you encounter.
