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Originally Posted by speakingtohe
A single copy of a book cannot be changed except by such methods as scissors, pens and/or whiteout. I believe that many books have been reprinted differently because of social issues (Nancy Drew?) or to reflect government policy in some countries. Even the bible has changed quite a bit over time.
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Yes, but a new edition will have new copyright information. The revised Nancy Drews have a different copyright date, for example. And the older versions still exist. Sure, it would be theoretically possible to obliterate them, but it is a lot easier to change or obliterate a digital file, and there'd be no real way for someone to know which is the original and which the revision.
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I agree with you that changing someone else's work is akin to vandalism and censorship and both are scary prospects but I also cringe every time I see a book, especially a library book, that is scribbled on or whole lines have been blacked out, or obscenities written on a margin. I wouldn't write on my own copy of a textbook. Post it notes for me
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Sure, but at least those sorts of markings are apparent--changes can be made to a digital file without anyone knowing. When I first got my e-reader, I downloaded some public domain books from sites other than Project Gutenberg, and later learned that they had been bowdlerized, without that being indicated anywhere. That's scary.
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Nice use of the word immutability BTW.
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I thought so!
