
Never done... Nicholas Carr on E-Books - FluidDjango
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203893404577098343417771160.html?mod=WSJ_Tech_LEFTTopNews
======
dsr_
Sadly, this power of invisible revision is going to be used for evil far more
often than it will be for good.

Why? Well, consider the incentives. Making a correction in a guidebook is
fine, but it is unlikely to sell new copies so much as the All New (Not
Really) 2012 Edition. Correcting typos in a book published through a
traditional publishing company may require enough bureaucratic effort that
only the most egregious will ever be fixed. The biographer's new chapter with
previously unknown evidence warrants some sort of new sale...

But the ways of evil provide their own incentives. China can employ ten
thousand censors, the NSA can grep and sed, the Texas Board of Education can
decree a global search and replace for evolution. Thet don't need any further
motivation.

~~~
dctoedt
> _the Texas Board of Education can decree a global search and replace for
> evolution_

In 2010, Texas voters tossed out two conservative members of the State Board
of Education, although conservatives are going to try to regain control in
2012. [1]

In 2011, some of the remaining conservatives on the SBOE lost a battle to try
to eliminate some lessons on evolution (they compromised because they realized
they didn't have the votes). [2]

[1] [http://www.texastribune.org/texas-education/public-
education...](http://www.texastribune.org/texas-education/public-
education/texas-board-education-races-could-get-ugly/)

[2] [http://www.theblaze.com/stories/update-social-
conservatives-...](http://www.theblaze.com/stories/update-social-
conservatives-lose-out-in-texas-evolution-vs-creationism-curriculum-debate/)

------
bennesvig
The temptation to retouch a book is huge. Even just a small tweak to a few
paragraphs is hard to ignore when it's so easy to resubmit the work.

