auto_ptr on wikipedia said that "an auto_ptr containing an STL container may be used to prevent further modification of the container.". It used the following example: auto_ptr<vector<ContainedType> > open_vec(new vector<ContainedType>); open_vec->push_back(5); open_vec->push_back(3); // Transfers control, but now the vector cannot be changed: auto_ptr<const vector<ContainedType> > closed_vec(open_vec); // closed_vec->push_back(8); // Can no longer modify If I uncomment the last line, g++ will report an error as t05.cpp:24: error: passing ‘const std::vector<int, std::allocator<int> >’ as ‘this’ argument of ‘void std::vector<_Tp, _Alloc>::push_back(const _Tp&) [with _Tp = int, _Alloc = std::allocator<int>]’ discards qualifiers I am curious why after transferring the ownership of this vector, it can no longer be modified? Thanks a lot!