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In her Slate article on the risks of e-book piracy, Joy Press led with an example of a phony e-book that was “cobbled together” from previous recipes of Jamie Oliver, the “Naked Chief.” Also, how about the risks of e-books where facts or opinions would be changed without the knowledge or consent of the author or publisher?

Such dangers exist in various forms; the worst scenario would be a 1984ish one with the government itself as the villain.

That’s one reason why I like the idea of national digital library systems, which, though independent, might be monitored from outside in some way to assure their integrity. Too, people would be able to keep copies of e-books on their own machines.

Of course, a more likely problem is that enemies of individual writers, rather than the government itself, might spread altered copies–one good argument for digital authentification schemes.

With all this in mind, you might want to check out What Do We Mean by Authentic? What’s the Real McCoy? by H.M. Gladney, in the July/August issue of D-Lib Magazine. He’s approaching the issue mainly from semantic and technical perspectives (mentioning such matters as digital-analogue conversion), but his article and the accompanying list of citations might still be of interest from an anti-fraud perspective.

Needless to say, the complexities that Gladney addresses are yet another reason for a truly comprehensive national digital library approach as opposed to a reckless reliance on commercial archives alone. Such matters hopefully wil be covered sufficiently by the National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program of the Library of Congress.

A helpful link for those interested in long-term archiving: Information Longevity.

 
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