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
6 Comments
Recent Posts
Back-of-the-Napkin Cultural Policy: The Government’s $600 Million Streaming Plan Copies the CRTC Decision It Killed at More Than Double the Cost 
The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 282: Udbhav Tiwari on Why Signal May Exit Canada Over Bill C-22’s Encryption and Metadata Retention Rules 
From Making Web Giants Pay to Paying Media Giants: Budget 2026 Replaces the Government’s Internet Platform Strategy With $1.5 Billion in Taxpayer Dollars for Culture and News 
Has the Government Read Its Own Bill? What Three Days of House Debate Revealed About Bill C-34 Before the Committee Hearings Begin 
Surveillance By Design: Government Officials Say Lawful Access Could Reach Gaming Platforms, Daycares and AI Services
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?