Readers of this blog know that I am enthusiastic about the Hebrewbooks.org website. I’ve written about the Internet and the future of learning, when one day the printed book will be a relic of the past.
One concern I’ve been worried about is how we can avoid forgeries that are bound to proliferate. To print a sefer, one must extend a significant amount of cost and effort, thus forgeries are not so prevalent in our time, but in the digital age, Photoshop and some good editing skills will make forgeries easier to accomplish and harder to identify, allowing anyone with an agenda to immediately find company in the Sefer of his choosing.
This has been demonstrated quite vividly by Mississippi Fred’s Robinson Crusoe post.
With relative ease, OTML has cleverly displayed a true
and not-so-true
version of a Sefer. I suppose that just as we have seen the proliferation of computer crime and consequently computer fraud detection detectives, so too, as online learning expands, hopefully we will find foolproof ways of ensuring that our Seforim have not been tampered with. In the mean time, hold on to your hard copies.
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Scary, 1984 has come home to roost.
ReplyDeleteHow will integrity of our books/sefarim be preserved in the future? Does anyone know how the academic world deals with this issue?
ReplyDeleteChurchill said:
ReplyDelete“A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.”
BOF says:
“A Loshon Hora Filled Blog sees the deletion in every translation; a Loshon Hora Free Blog sees the insertion in every transcription.”
I don't understand your comment. If you are implying that I am party to LH, I think the Heter of Apei Tlasa certainly applies once this has been featured on 3 blogs.
ReplyDeleteFurthermore, I have attempted to take an issue of current events and focus on the internet/technology/future aspect of it.
I guess we unwittingly stumbled on an interesting problem, huh?
ReplyDeleteS.
ReplyDeleteHow long did it take you to find the similar type and make the emendation? How do you think this problem can be avoided?
Interesting. But how do you think the problem can be avoided?
ReplyDeleteWe need a reversal of Rav Yehuda HaNasi's innovation. It's time to revert to pure Torah She-Baal Peh.
ReplyDeleteuntil the day, of course, when Hi-Tech advances to the point where Holograms can speak and be photoshopped.
ReplyDelete>Interesting. But how do you think the problem can be avoided?
ReplyDeleteLike I said, loads of printed editions are already faulty, so it's not really a new issue. I guess the solution needs to be relative to the size of the problem. If it's a small problem, or not a problem at all, then nothing needs to be done. If it's a problem then some kind of security features guaranteeing the authenticity of the file will need to be implemented. Of course, the hashgacha is only as good as the mashgichim.