The Sixteenth Century Version of Fox News
Have a laugh at modern contemporary comparisons while reading about the history of copyright:
Under its auspices, and purporting to control the production of religious materials, the British government granted the exclusive right to publish printed works to the Stationer’s Company in 1534. The Stationer’s Company, in exchange for its monopoly, was obliged to seek permission from the Crown before it printed anything. The Stationer’s Company was the sixteenth century version of Fox News. As a result, the Crown conveniently only had to keep on eye on one media outlet to dampen dissent and attenuate propaganda. (emphasis added)
That piece of legislation was eventually allowed to expire (150-odd years later!) in 1694, and in 1710, the Statute of Anne passed Parliament, giving birth to the modern concept of “authorship.”
[via Benedict.com]
Related posts:
- LOL, OMG, ♥, and FYI Added to Oxford English Dictionary I was just saying that it was about time that LOL made the cut. I...
- The Toronto Standard, a Digital Revival Having briefly existed between the years 1848 and 1850, the Toronto Standard reemerged last night,...
- Breaking News: Earthquake Spurs Tsunami in Sendai 32 killed in tsunami after 8.9 magnitude earthquake in Japan. Tsunami warnings stretch to Hawaii,...
- Clumsy US Spamming, Er, Spy Operation The US government revealed that they’re dumping more money into anti-terrorist social media propaganda machines...
