Ethics

Captured from the internet on 1 April 1992:

William Gibson, well known for his Neuromancer (which in 1986 anticipated what is known today as virtual reality), has a new book, Agrippa (A Book of the Dead), that apparently will be available ONLY in computer-diskette form, according to Entertainment Weekly.
As reported in the San Francisco Chronicle (31 Mar 1992, p.D3), "Gibson plans to infect the disk with a virus that will make it impossible to transfer the text to paper."

Disregarding the hacking challenge, the copyright questions, and the worries about disenfranchised readers, did anyone notice that 1 April is also known as April Fool's Day? Urban myths are fun to think about, but internet myths can quickly take on the character of reality with resultant network glut and wasted time affecting thousands and even millions of people. Good luck to you bibliographers out there who are willing to take on the bibliographic ghosts.

... as for me, I'm going to be really mad if the first edition comes out in a format that I can't read on my computer.