Amazon Remotely Deleting Books From Kindle

[ira176]

Tantamount to a larceny.

 

[Guest]

Wow....just wow....

They just killed any hope of ebooks for the future. When they can pull this crap.

This is a prime example of how DRM screws over legit users, while barely being a speed bump to pirates.

 

[Guest]

I'm amazed too. This is seriously outrageous. A violation of personal rights in the most simple and obvious of ways. I will definitely rethink ANY future purchases of digital "property" not just from Amazon especially, but from any corporation.

 

[Honis]

Its the publisher that issued the order. The books probably wouldn't have been available in the first place if such a clause wasn't in the contract.

If you want to send a message send it to the publisher! Stop buying from Random House! Send them angry letters and emails explicitly saying you're no longer purchasing there books and are advocating piracy with such actions!

 

[jhaws1001]

Yikes! I don't like the idea that Amazon has the ABILITY to delete the book from the device in the first place. That "feature" alone dissuades me from wanting to purchase one. I guess I'll stick with the little screen on my iphone.

Can Apple remotely remove my apps too?

 

[Sceptrix]

It would have been REALLY ironic if it had been Fahrenheit 451

 

[mdillenbeck]

First, hire a lawyer. Second, read through your EULA with your lawyer translating. Third, weep.

Seriously, I think we need consumer legislation to protect us from EULAs. The are so lengthy and incomprehensible that it is unreasonable to assume the average consumer can read and comprehend all the contractual requirements within.

Also, from what I have been reading, the issue deals with different copyright laws. In the US, these books are still under copyright (mainly due to congress constantly extending the time span that copyrights exist). Fortunately for so many other countries, these works are in the public domain as their copyrights expired. Amazon "sells" access to a kindle-compatible version of these public domain books for $0.99. Thus the conflict - the US consumer should not have been able to buy this cheap version but there is a more expensive version.

My understanding is that you are only getting a license to the book, but there are some poor terms which leaves some question as to what you are actually buying. For example, you are allowed to put a *permanent copy* on your computer - but then again they have the right to revoke the license and refund your money.

I know, its really a mess - and part of the bigger IP picture that we see being fought each day with frivolous lawsuits, poorly considered patents, accusations of plagiarism for writing about commonly accepted ideas, and the image fiasco with wikipedia.

Oh, here's a kicker for you Kindle book buyers - did you know there are limits to the installs? Apparently one customer who wiped and reloaded their device found out they could no longer download their books. After a lot of back-and-forth with customer service, the story changed from limited downloads to unlimited downloads but only to a limited number of unique devices. So, upgrade your Kindle and use your iPod (or whatever) to read your books, and you may suddenly find you do not have a license to put it on your next upgrade. Most publishers limit it to 6-8 downloads to unique devices, but some allow only 1 device. The kicker? They don't publish this limit anywhere when buying it. That is like buying a DVD and finding out it will only play in the first 1-8 devices you use it in, but not knowing if it is 1 or 8!

Myself, I'll stick to open formats, things without DRM, and using my tablet pc as my "eReader". Heck, I could even use a Kindle with these devices - but I don't think I'd want to support Amazon which is pro-DRM.

Final thought - someone at the New York Times posted a comment to this effect: if Amazon has the power to pull out books from your system due to copyright infringement, what happens if a government decided to ban a book as offensive? Would Amazon comply with the new ban and pull the book from your library?

Oh, and if you are going to pirate a book, do me a favor - buy a paper copy and use a camera to make your e-copy. Help keep good books being printed. Thanks.

 

[fa_q2]

+1 LOL

 

[Guest]

This is exactly what scares me so much with all the companies turning towards ebooks, and for games DLCs. What it really boils down to these publishers want to eliminate the second hand market (no more used books, games, or movies) so that no one can share or resell their stuff. Think about how much money you would make if everyone had to have their own copy of something bought at full retail price rather than used! It's sickening!

 

[lukeiamyourfather]

Not like this is the first time customers have been burned by digital rights management rearing its ugly head. To this date I still buy printed books and music on discs, nothing will change that except for lossless products without DRM, which is exactly what's on the disc to begin with.

 

[jsloan]

boy this really upset me, so i did some more research and found the details to be that the books erased were ones sold illegal by some company that did not have the copyright to sell them.

here are the details
http/news.cnet.com/8301-13512_3-10290133-23.html

i think amazon should eat the loss and give each purchaser their money back or a legal copy of the book.

 

[ossie]

DRM rocks!!! DRM-O$ is even better.

 

[Clintonio]

[citation][nom]jhaws1001[/nom]Yikes! I don't like the idea that Amazon has the ABILITY to delete the book from the device in the first place. That "feature" alone dissuades me from wanting to purchase one. I guess I'll stick with the little screen on my iphone. Can Apple remotely remove my apps too?[/citation]

Apple can disable apps remotely ,I believe, using a kill switch

 

[Spanky Deluxe]

Epic fail.

 

[Spanky Deluxe]

[citation][nom]Clintonio[/nom]Apple can disable apps remotely ,I believe, using a kill switch[/citation]

True. However, they haven't made use of that yet. Even the app Netshare that briefly appeared on the app store a year ago and allowed iPhone users to tether their laptops free of charge hasn't been killed. It was removed from the app store pretty quickly but users who bought it can still use it.

 

[ram1009]

I don't know how Amazon's customer agreement reads, however I dont see this as a big deal as long as Amazon notifies the customers involved and refunds ALL monies.

 

[Guest]

George Orwells books are being pulled, by our new administration. Dont want people to start pulling up ideas about socialism.

 

[winglerw28]

Cry 'havoc!' and let slip the lawyers of lawsuits!

 

[winglerw28]

No edit button? after all this time?....

Seriously though, this is just stupid - and a growing concern of mine. More and more of what we own is licensed instead of purchased. We don't own half our music, we don't own our OS'es, we don't own our movies. Media management is becoming more and more pervasive as it becomes more and more digital, with companies doing stuff like this without your permission.

 

[brendano257]

[citation][nom]Ramar[/nom]What on earth are they thinking?There's usually a "good" reason for this, and if there isn't, someone start the Anti-Amazon petition.[/citation]

It's not really Amazon's fault. Yes, they did comply with the order, but not complying would mean legal battles for them and what not. They were given full refunds, but it was not really fair to the customers to do so.

I guess the next business model will include C4 packs in books for self-deletion. Way to go America..?