Thread: Dangerously e-books: How do I know if my ebooks have been altered?
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Old 03-28-2014, 11:17 AM   #67
Rbneader
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Quote:
Originally Posted by EbookNovice View Post
Hey all, I've been working to get rid of all of my physical books to the point where 90% of new books I buy are e-books so that I'm not harming the earth. However, one scary thought crept into my mind: What if the e-books I'm reading have been manipulated and their content is wrong? I find this extremely worrying to the point where I haven't been able to sleep.

An example of what I mean: I think I'm reading an e-book written by Arnold Schwarzenegger on weight training that promises to give the best results, but I'm actually reading an e-book that contains information that could harm me and is just an e-book written by someone wanting to be mischievous. Or an e-book written by Karl Marx about a criticism of socialism, when in fact a person has manipulated the e-book into a positive view on capitalism. I think I've received information from Karl Marx, but it's a completely altered e-book.

I know if I buy an e-book from Amazon it's most likely genuine, but the vast majority of the e-books I'm reading are from people who have just written their own e-books and released it online without a publisher at all. Many are free e-books. A lot of the e-books I'm reading now are educational so I want to know that what I'm reading is genuine.

A physical book is much harder for someone to make alterations it. It doesn't seem hard for someone to make alterations to an e-book and so the e-book is now 'tainted'.

Is there a way I can check that the e-books I'm reading are genuine?

How can I trust that an e-book hasn't been manipulated?

I'd appreciate any help to calm my mind!
That is a bit of an extreme reaction. It's not likely that people care enough to spend time manipulating books like that at this point. That said, this could change.

For ebooks, the best way to make sure they stay the same is to download a copy, crack the DRM, and maintain your library on your computer. There are problems. Calibre is not 100% reliable, and alternatives are worse.

If you mean 'make sure the downloaded text matches the physical text', the only way would be reading it.
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