The 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
July 17, 2009
Share this post
6 Comments

Law Bytes
Episode 241: Scott Benzie on How Government Policy Eroded Big Tech Support for Canadian Culture
byMichael Geist

July 21, 2025
Michael Geist
June 30, 2025
Michael Geist
June 23, 2025
Michael Geist
Search Results placeholder
Recent Posts
The Sound of Silence: On Being Jewish in Canada in 2025
The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 241: Scott Benzie on How Government Policy Has Eroded Big Tech Support for Canadian Culture
What Is the Canadian Government Doing With Its Incoherent Approach to TikTok?
The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 240: Dean Beeby on Why Canada’s Language Laws May Stop Government From Posting Access to Information Records Online
Risky Business: The Legal and Privacy Concerns of Mandatory Age Verification Technologies
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?