Bezos Apologizes For Kindle's Orwellian Moment

Nearly a week after Amazon remotely deleted 1984 and Animal Farm from customers’ Kindles because they weren’t licensed, head Kindle-cheerleader Jeff Bezos posted this statement on the Kindle Community discussion board on Amazon.com.

This is an apology for the way we previously handled illegally sold copies of 1984 and other novels on Kindle. Our “solution” to the problem was stupid, thoughtless, and painfully out of line with our principles. It is wholly self-inflicted, and we deserve the criticism we’ve received. We will use the scar tissue from this painful mistake to help make better decisions going forward, ones that match our mission.

With deep apology to our customers,

Jeff Bezos
Founder & CEO
Amazon.com

Meh. We’re not mocking it, and he’s probably sincere, but still… meh. When we see a clarification to the licensing terms, then we’ll take real interest.

“An Apology from Amazon” [Amazon’s Kindle Discussion Forum]
(Photo: spud murphy)

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