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By David Rothman

Fahrenheit451 “Is the Kindle potentially a censor’s friend?” I asked—given that everything focuses around Amazon and is centralizd. Should the publishing industry be so reliant on one company?

I’ve not the only one with such fears. David Berlind, a ZDNet blogger, has even made a Fahrenheit 451 reference. Plus, the Kindle has built-in spyware to make sure you’re a good boy and don’t pirate. It also can closely track your reading. One way to make sure you don’t read banned books?

Now Ronald K.L. Collins, an ex-Judicial Fellow with the U.S. Supreme Court, warns that the Kindle’s use or wireless might someday lead to FCC regulation of e-books.

“So emboldened, the FCC could one day go after e-books like, say, The Essential Lenny Bruce or an illustrated version of D.H. Lawrence’s novel Women in Love — to protect our children, of course,” he writes.

What do you think, gang?

And a P book angle: Are p-books safe, either? I can recall doing a net.activism guide that one of the chain stores feared would be too problematic in the wake of the Oklahoma City bombing. Apparent result? No guide. It’s all something for Hollywood and the publishing world to ponder when they ask for insanely Draconian copyright laws.

Same for conglomerates asking for the right to own more TV stations.  The more dependent content providers are on the goodwill of the government, the greater risk of Big Bro. As much as I want a well-stocked national digital library system, I want decent bypass mechanisms in place in the private sector since I take it for granted that Washington will censor.

Related: Manybooks.net’s section devoted to free e-copies of banned books, including The Adventures of Huckelberry Finn. No joke. I once went to an intermediate school where the principle—luckily, years after I’d left—-wanted the Huck or another Twain book banned or at least depicted as racist.

(Found via MobileRead.)

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