Google to Sell Digital Books Online

Google is inviting publishers in the United States and Britain to submit their books for sale online, and even set prices that the search engine would charge customers. The move is an expansion of Google's Book Search project, which has been the subject of much controversy.

The program currently makes available a few sentences from digitized books, only allowing full text access to titles out of copyright. But soon consumers will be able to buy books for viewing within their Web browser; copying and printing will be prevented. Google has not said when it plans to launch the new feature.