E-books (and, by extension, digital
content on the Web) will be no exception. Hence the recurrent
and current attempts at regulation.
Every new variant of content packaging was labeled as
"dangerous" at its inception. The Church (formerly the largest
publisher of bibles and other religious and "earthly" texts
and the upholder and protector of reading in the Dark Ages)
castigated and censored the printing of "heretical" books
(especially the vernacular bibles of the Reformation) and
restored the Inquisition for the specific purpose of
controlling book publishing. In 1559, it published the Index
Librorum Prohibitorum ("Index of Prohibited Books"). A few
(mainly Dutch) publishers even went to the stake (a habit
worth reviving, some current authors would say...). European
rulers issued proclamations against "naughty printed books"
(of heresy and sedition). The printing of books was subject to
licencing by the Privy Council in England. The very concept of
copyright arose out of the forced registration of books in the
register of the English Stationer's Company (a royal
instrument of influence and intrigue).
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