Join my Facebook page
Follow @mgeist
Join me on Google+
Subscribe to my RSS feed
Email me
Connect on LinkedIn
Pinned Posts in PinterestThe NY Times reports that Amazon has remotely deleted a pair of e-books from users' Kindles after the publisher apparently changed its mind on offering an electronic edition. The books? George Orwell's 1984 and Animal Farm.
Amazon Remotely Deletes E-Books From Kindle Readers
6 Comments
Recent Posts
The LawBytes Podcast, Episode 24: A Tribute to Ian Kerr 
In Memoriam: My Dear Friend and Colleague Ian Kerr 
The Cultural Lobby Demands for Internet Taxes and Fees: The Forgotten Piece in Canada’s Lower Wireless and Internet Cost Puzzle 
The Law Bytes Podcast, Season One in Review: The Telecom and Broadcast Policy Episodes 
The Law Bytes Podcast, Season One in Review: The Copyright Episodes
kinda funny, but this really is where companies want to go with all forms of electronic media, they want to have complete control.
Oh the irony
Oh, the irony. If it were any other books, it wouldn’t be quite as funny. Also, if the world were a little more sane, these books wouldn’t even be copyrighted anymore
Oy.
I would give much to have Orwell’s reaction to this news. Seeing IP law used as another form of potential “memory hole” would have to worry him.
Sounds to me like…
the publisher was using Amazon as a means to gauge the public appetite for the books. Could a new printing of the books be in the offing?
However, I would also think that the publisher should be, at the very least, refunding the folks who purchased the books electronically, in full. Otherwise, what is to stop them from pulling this stunt again?
This is a slip-up by Amazon. The copyright overlord companies are supposed to be establishing these sort of controlling abilities in secrecy until they are sufficiently established in the market and in protecting legislation that people can’t do anything about it. If they start using these abilities too early, it is only going to make it more expensive to push through their legislation.
As well
Orwell died in 1950. Therefore, in at least part of the world, these books are now in the public domain.
However crade put it well. A backdoor seems to exist into the Kindle to allow books, purchased in good faith, to be deleted… does the same exist for the iPod?