On reflection, I realised that he is probably right. I restrict myself to discussing documents that are to be copied to preserve the information because the original information carrier has decayed to the point where it is unrealistic to attempt to preserve it. If the original is in good condition, there is no need to copy to preserve. Copy made for access or as a safety copy are not necessarily subject to the same ethical considerations. The increasing interest in using digital techniques to create copies of documents has also created concern about the ethical standards to be applied to such copying.
Modern technology offers many powerful tools to alter the information when copying a document.
These will, inevitably, frequently be subjective decisions. Most of the concern is centred on the need to copy information from existing carriers to new carriers. This is not a new worry. The monks in the Scriptoria of the monasteries working at the production of the magnificent mediaeval illuminated manuscripts were, I am sure, at times tempted to alter the wording of texts to enable a page to be better presented visually. I am equally sure that they were constrained by the realisation that the over-riding need was to transmit the information on the pages of the Bible accurately to future generations.