Quote:
Originally Posted by Catlady
I'm not talking about some legal right. I'm talking about a moral right.
I objected to the changes in Nancy Drew because the originals were turned into pablum--there may be some Nancy Drew fans who prefer the revisions to the originals, but I've never come across one. I do not question the right of the publisher to have made any changes, only their judgment.
|
So, you are saying the copyright owner had no moral right to make changes to the Nancy Drew books? The point is that with the Nancy Drew books, the changes were made without informing the reader what changes were made and without informing the reader what changes were made. The problem that you think is so bad with e-books is clearly worse with paper books, because with paper books, the original gets buried.
Quote:
|
This is all really irrelevant. The Ruth Plumly Thompson book in question, for instance, isn't available at PG. Likewise other public domain books are sprinkled all over the Web--look at the library here, or at Munseys--without necessarily being at PG. I have a certain faith in PG to give me the straight text, but now I'm not so sure about other sources. What's to stop them from going all PC? If I'm familiar with a story, maybe I'll notice. If I'm not, then what? I could be reading a highly censored version and never know it. It may be legal for people to edit the works of the past, but it's still wrong.
|
It is possible that their could be some wild conspiracy to eradicate the original version, but it is extremely unlikely. Amazon, for example, COULD eradicate the original version of a book from its servers, and only chose to stock an edited version. But is every retailer going to be in on the conspiracy? If it is documented that the book is not the original, but is edited, there's no problem. If you don't like it, don't read it.