5 ms·

Protect Your Library the Medieval Way, with Horrifying Book Curses

77 points by diodorus 10y ago

joggery 10y ago
Should thou not copiest this book most faithfully, taking care afterwards to dispatch it to three of thy brothers, thy brains shall be cudgelled forth and fed to the crows.
- Zikes 10y ago
  Clever and relevant. We look back on these sorts of things with a certain conceitedness, yet we still have the modern day equivalent with chain letters and social media posts.
  - civilian 10y ago
    Hah, I was not thinking of chain letters and social media posts. My mind was going in this direction: > You may reproduce and distribute copies of the Work or Derivative Works thereof in any medium, with or without modifications, and in Source or Object form, provided that You meet the following conditions: >You must give any other recipients of the Work or Derivative Works a copy of this License; and* >You must cause any modified files to carry prominent notices stating that You changed the files; and >You must retain, in the Source form of any Derivative Works that You distribute, all copyright, patent, trademark, and attribution notices from the Source form of the Work, excluding those notices that do not pertain to any part of the Derivative Works;
nonbel 10y ago
One of the headline quotes in this article may be a forgery: “For him that stealeth, or borroweth and returneth not, this book from its owner, let it change into a serpent in his hand & rend him. Let him be struck with palsy & all his members blasted. Let him languish in pain crying aloud for mercy, & let there be no surcease to his agony till he sing in dissolution. Let bookworms gnaw his entrails in token of the Worm that dieth not, & when at last he goeth to his final punishment, let the flames of Hell consume him for ever.” I don't know anything about this topic, I just saw this after looking it up real quick: "The book curse from the San Pedro monastery is no such thing. It is an amusing hoax dating from 1909. Edmund Pearson, joker, librarian and true-crime writer, claimed it was part of a rediscovered Old Librarian's Almanack originally published in 1773. The Old Librarian dated the translation to 1712, "English'd by Sir Matthew Mahan" in a guide to his Spanish travels." https://www.timeshighereducation.com/features/marx-pandora-and-the-tower-of-porn/416409.article?storyCode=416409&sectioncode=26 https://www.timeshighereducation.com/features/marx-pandora-a...
sandworm101 10y ago
We still use these today. We call them copyright notices. "If thou copies or distributes this work without thy lord permission... bad things." Then as now, the most ominous warnings are reserved for situations with the least likelihood of being caught.
- k__ 10y ago
  Sure. I you got caught back in the days, horrible things would happen to you indeed.
lliamander 10y ago
So, no different from a standard EULA?
- gpvos 10y ago
  Quicker to read and easier to understand, actually.
greenshackle2 10y ago
Today we protect our libraries with the GPL, a different kind of horrible curse.
- reitanqild 10y ago
  Upvoted because it was funny, not because it was right. I really struggle with AGPL however.
  - greenshackle2 10y ago
    I write GPL software for a living, I mean it in the best possible way. What's your problem with the AGPL? I'm pretty neutral on it myself, I havn't used it for my own projects but it seems like an ok license to have around for people who don't want their code used in locked up SaaS.
    - greendragon 10y ago
      I interpret a lot of AGPL projects I see as "we're willing to negotiate a secondary license to your private business". If you're the best in class (or just the only available public option) it can make sense as a way to try and make money. If there's a more liberally licensed substitution, however, it's probably best read as a "don't use me for your business" flag...
      - greenshackle2 10y ago
        Right, but, from a business perspective, the same argument goes for GPL vs permissive licenses; why use GPL if there's an Apache or BSD alternative. I'm ok with dual licensing, what annoys me is businesses that makes nominally free software but puts half the core functionality in proprietary extensions. It feels like they're saying, we want the community to contribute to our core, but we're going to sell the profitable parts. Even worse is a company like Odoo (not to name anyone...), who switched from all AGPL + selling support model to a free core + proprietary modules model. They relicensed their codebase, claiming they own copyright for all of it since they rewrote all community-contributed parts, but that's really questionable. You can't erase 10 years of community contributions.
Aloha 10y ago
I wonder if these would work on eBooks? :-P
- leggomylibro 10y ago
  "If you are reading this on an unauthorized device, it will explode when you turn the page."
  - gruturo 10y ago
    Which, given the recent news with Samsung, is now actually a somewhat believable curse.
vacri 10y ago
I can understand this one: May the sword of anathema slay, If anyone steals this book away. And this one: If anyone take away this book, let him die the death; let him be fried in a pan; let the falling sickness and fever size him; let him be broken on the wheel, and hanged. Amen. But I'm puzzled by this one: Get our latest, delivered straight to your inbox by subscribing to our newsletter.
- akovaski 10y ago
  One newsletter he did slay but two rose up from where the first one lay two, then four, then eight and more A mere human cannot defeat this beast "Unsubscribe" he set the auto-reply but thousands, no millions, no billions, no trillions of newsletters filled up his dying inbox Perhaps the first one wasn't so bad?
TheOtherHobbes 10y ago
I wonder how many medieval book thieves could read? Also relevant as an early form of DRM: http://www.wimborneminster.org.uk/110/chained-library.html http://www.wimborneminster.org.uk/110/chained-library.html
legal_elise 10y ago
If you are not the intended recipient of this email, then: (a) Please notify the sender of this email immediately by return email or telephone and immediately delete this message; (b) You may not print, store, forward or copy this message or any part thereof or disclose or allow information in this message to be disclosed to any other person or third party. The information in or attached to this email message is confidential and may be subject to legal privilege and client confidentiality. We cannot be held liable for any harm or loss resulting from malicious software code or viruses in this message or attachments, including data corruption resulting therefrom. None of our employees or representatives are permitted to send unsolicited messages ("spam") and our company cannot be held liable therefore. If you regard this message as spam, please inform us immediately by sending an email to test@example.com Unless otherwise agreed: (a) We are only deemed to have received an email once we have confirmed receipt thereof to you; (b) We are only deemed to have sent an email once reflected as "sent" on our email server. If this message contains offensive, derogatory or defamatory statements or materials, it means the message has been sent outside the sender's scope of employment with us and only the sender can be held liable in his/her personal capacity. This disclaimer applies to our original message, any attachments and all subsequent messages or attachments we may send. If you have any questions on the above disclaimer, please call Lorem Ipsum at (555) 555-5555 or email us via test@example.com ...rolls eyes.

77 points by diodorus 10y ago

Should thou not copiest this book most faithfully, taking care afterwards to dispatch it to three of thy brothers, thy brains shall be cudgelled forth and fed to the crows.

Zikes 10y ago
Clever and relevant. We look back on these sorts of things with a certain conceitedness, yet we still have the modern day equivalent with chain letters and social media posts.
- civilian 10y ago
  Hah, I was not thinking of chain letters and social media posts. My mind was going in this direction: > You may reproduce and distribute copies of the Work or Derivative Works thereof in any medium, with or without modifications, and in Source or Object form, provided that You meet the following conditions: >You must give any other recipients of the Work or Derivative Works a copy of this License; and* >You must cause any modified files to carry prominent notices stating that You changed the files; and >You must retain, in the Source form of any Derivative Works that You distribute, all copyright, patent, trademark, and attribution notices from the Source form of the Work, excluding those notices that do not pertain to any part of the Derivative Works;

nonbel 10y ago

One of the headline quotes in this article may be a forgery: “For him that stealeth, or borroweth and returneth not, this book from its owner, let it change into a serpent in his hand & rend him. Let him be struck with palsy & all his members blasted. Let him languish in pain crying aloud for mercy, & let there be no surcease to his agony till he sing in dissolution. Let bookworms gnaw his entrails in token of the Worm that dieth not, & when at last he goeth to his final punishment, let the flames of Hell consume him for ever.” I don't know anything about this topic, I just saw this after looking it up real quick: "The book curse from the San Pedro monastery is no such thing. It is an amusing hoax dating from 1909. Edmund Pearson, joker, librarian and true-crime writer, claimed it was part of a rediscovered Old Librarian's Almanack originally published in 1773. The Old Librarian dated the translation to 1712, "English'd by Sir Matthew Mahan" in a guide to his Spanish travels." https://www.timeshighereducation.com/features/marx-pandora-and-the-tower-of-porn/416409.article?storyCode=416409&sectioncode=26 https://www.timeshighereducation.com/features/marx-pandora-a...

sandworm101 10y ago

We still use these today. We call them copyright notices. "If thou copies or distributes this work without thy lord permission... bad things." Then as now, the most ominous warnings are reserved for situations with the least likelihood of being caught.

k__ 10y ago
Sure. I you got caught back in the days, horrible things would happen to you indeed.

lliamander 10y ago

So, no different from a standard EULA?

gpvos 10y ago
Quicker to read and easier to understand, actually.

greenshackle2 10y ago

Today we protect our libraries with the GPL, a different kind of horrible curse.

reitanqild 10y ago
Upvoted because it was funny, not because it was right. I really struggle with AGPL however.
- greenshackle2 10y ago
  I write GPL software for a living, I mean it in the best possible way. What's your problem with the AGPL? I'm pretty neutral on it myself, I havn't used it for my own projects but it seems like an ok license to have around for people who don't want their code used in locked up SaaS.
  - greendragon 10y ago
    I interpret a lot of AGPL projects I see as "we're willing to negotiate a secondary license to your private business". If you're the best in class (or just the only available public option) it can make sense as a way to try and make money. If there's a more liberally licensed substitution, however, it's probably best read as a "don't use me for your business" flag...
    - greenshackle2 10y ago
      Right, but, from a business perspective, the same argument goes for GPL vs permissive licenses; why use GPL if there's an Apache or BSD alternative. I'm ok with dual licensing, what annoys me is businesses that makes nominally free software but puts half the core functionality in proprietary extensions. It feels like they're saying, we want the community to contribute to our core, but we're going to sell the profitable parts. Even worse is a company like Odoo (not to name anyone...), who switched from all AGPL + selling support model to a free core + proprietary modules model. They relicensed their codebase, claiming they own copyright for all of it since they rewrote all community-contributed parts, but that's really questionable. You can't erase 10 years of community contributions.

Aloha 10y ago

I wonder if these would work on eBooks? :-P

leggomylibro 10y ago
"If you are reading this on an unauthorized device, it will explode when you turn the page."
- gruturo 10y ago
  Which, given the recent news with Samsung, is now actually a somewhat believable curse.

vacri 10y ago

I can understand this one: May the sword of anathema slay, If anyone steals this book away. And this one: If anyone take away this book, let him die the death; let him be fried in a pan; let the falling sickness and fever size him; let him be broken on the wheel, and hanged. Amen. But I'm puzzled by this one: Get our latest, delivered straight to your inbox by subscribing to our newsletter.

akovaski 10y ago
One newsletter he did slay but two rose up from where the first one lay two, then four, then eight and more A mere human cannot defeat this beast "Unsubscribe" he set the auto-reply but thousands, no millions, no billions, no trillions of newsletters filled up his dying inbox Perhaps the first one wasn't so bad?

TheOtherHobbes 10y ago

I wonder how many medieval book thieves could read? Also relevant as an early form of DRM: http://www.wimborneminster.org.uk/110/chained-library.html http://www.wimborneminster.org.uk/110/chained-library.html

legal_elise 10y ago

If you are not the intended recipient of this email, then: (a) Please notify the sender of this email immediately by return email or telephone and immediately delete this message; (b) You may not print, store, forward or copy this message or any part thereof or disclose or allow information in this message to be disclosed to any other person or third party. The information in or attached to this email message is confidential and may be subject to legal privilege and client confidentiality. We cannot be held liable for any harm or loss resulting from malicious software code or viruses in this message or attachments, including data corruption resulting therefrom. None of our employees or representatives are permitted to send unsolicited messages ("spam") and our company cannot be held liable therefore. If you regard this message as spam, please inform us immediately by sending an email to test@example.com Unless otherwise agreed: (a) We are only deemed to have received an email once we have confirmed receipt thereof to you; (b) We are only deemed to have sent an email once reflected as "sent" on our email server. If this message contains offensive, derogatory or defamatory statements or materials, it means the message has been sent outside the sender's scope of employment with us and only the sender can be held liable in his/her personal capacity. This disclaimer applies to our original message, any attachments and all subsequent messages or attachments we may send. If you have any questions on the above disclaimer, please call Lorem Ipsum at (555) 555-5555 or email us via test@example.com ...rolls eyes.