  We develop a quantization scheme for Maxwell's equations without source on an
arbitrary four dimensional globally hyperbolic spacetime. The field strength
tensor is the key dynamical object and it is not assumed a priori that it
descends from a vector potential. It is shown that, in general, the associated
field algebra can contain a non trivial centre and, on account of this, such a
theory cannot be described within the framework of general local covariance
unless further restrictive assumptions on the topology of the spacetime are
made.
