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Medieval Copy Protection

Posted by samzenpus on from the thou-shall-write-your-own-book dept.

An anonymous reader writes "In medieval times a 'book curse' was often included on the inside cover or on the last leaf of a manuscripts, warning away anyone who might do the book some harm. Here's a particularly pretty one from Yale's Beinecke MS 214: 'In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, Amen. In the one thousand two hundred twenty-ninth year from the incarnation of our Lord, Peter, of all monks the least significant, gave this book to the [Benedictine monastery of the] most blessed martyr, St. Quentin. If anyone should steal it, let him know that on the Day of Judgment the most sainted martyr himself will be the accuser against him before the face of our Lord Jesus Christ.'"

5 of 226 comments (clear)

  1. That's not copy protection by XanC · · Score: 5, Insightful

    That's theft protection. Copyright infringement != theft, remember?

    1. Re:That's not copy protection by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Slashdot: where we don't bother reading the summary, let alone the article, when writing the headline.

  2. Equally Effective by pwnies · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I see that the effectiveness of DRM hasn't changed in 800 years.

  3. No wonder by boristdog · · Score: 5, Funny

    No wonder my crops failed and there was a rain of toads on the farm after I downloaded "Superman III".

  4. Re:FBI warning by HermDog · · Score: 5, Funny

    If you illegally copy "Twilight" you're cursed with a copy of "Twilight"

    --
    JADBP