Google is being sued over its plans to digitise the world’s libraries. The US Authors Guild has filed a class action suit alleging that the search engine is engaging in widespread copyright infringement at the expense of the rights of individual writers.

‘This is a plain and brazen violation of copyright law,’ says Authors Guild president Nick Taylor. ‘It is not up to Google, or anyone other than the authors, the rightful owners of these copyrights, to decide whether and how their works will be copied.’

The suit stems from a deal Google signed with the New York Public Library and the university libraries of Stanford, Harvard, Oxford and Michigan to digitise their works.

The Authors Guild claims that the writers have neither been consulted nor given permission. It is demanding an injunction to stop the process, and is seeking damages.

Last month Google put its scanning schedule on hold until November to allow authors more time to withdraw books from the process. The search giant has promised not to digitise any work if the author objects, but has left the onus on the authors to act.

Google’s eventual plan is to have every book ever printed available for viewing via a web browser, either in its entirety if the copyright has lapsed, or as a summary if not.

In other news, Google is preparing to launch its own secure WiFi service, according to certain pages on the company’s web site.

The pages mention a previously unknown product called Google Secure Access, which can be downloaded as a beta. The software allows automatic encryption of WiFi signals using a virtual private network run by Google.

‘One of our engineers recognised that secure WiFi was virtually non-existent at most locations,’ states the Google WiFi FAQ.

‘As a result, he used his project time to begin an initiative to offer users more secure WiFi access. Google Secure Access is the result of this endeavour.’

Full details are not yet on the site, but the web page’s contents suggest that the first Google WiFi hotspots will be based in San Francisco, where the search giant already sponsors a WiFi hotspot. Any subsequent expansion of a hotspot service could make use of roaming agreements on rival networks.

Google has declined to comment.