[Victoria]

This search for certainty in the written word is a longstanding issue - not something newly introduced with ebooks.

For example, look at the history of the Christian bible: no originals from the Hebrew bible - just translations of translations; transcription errors crept in through hand-copying over the centuries; disagreement over critical word choices in modern translations due to differing theological and political perspectives of the scholars; the 1&2 century had a different understanding of 'author' from today, so that works were attributed to Paul and others, though written after their deaths, etc.

Social media / 'global village' now allows readers to brush elbows with authors. JK Rowling says she made a mistake with Ron and Hermione - too much information! What are we supposed to do with revelations from authors, rewrite the books in our head?

I think the OP is correct that ebooks introduce another avenue for change creeping into the written word. It would be very easy for an author to slip in a word change here and there to address criticisms in reviews, when correcting 'typos' and misspellings. Figuring out what is 'canon' is important, but it's not new, and it there will always be some degree of uncertainty.