As part of a settlement with the customer who sued Amazon over the 1984 fiasco this past summer, Amazon has clarified under what circumstances it can delete your books. Notably, Amazon is not saying that it will never again delete books, which keeps the Kindle in the “do not buy” list for consumers who want unequivocal ownership of the items they purchase. In fact, despite the muted praise Amazon is receiving for doing this, the best we can say about the clarification is that it’s about time, but that it still doesn’t address the fundamental ownership issues raised by the Kindle licensing system.
orwell
Amazon Offers $30 Credits To Orwell Kindle Swindle Victims
By 9.4.09
A post on Amazon’s Kindle support forum yesterday says the company is sending out emails with offers of $30 to customers who had their George Orwell purchases erased from their devices earlier this summer.
Bezos Apologizes For Kindle's Orwellian Moment
By 7.24.09
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.
How To Load Up Your Kindle With Non-Amazon Ebooks
By 7.20.09
So you’ve got a Kindle, and you have books on it, and you want to keep those books—no matter what Amazon or a publisher decides you deserve in the future. Your legal options are limited, but you do have some.
Homeland Security: We Can Detain Your Laptop Indefinitely Without Cause
By 8.2.08
The Orwellian Department of Homeland Security claims that it can indefinitely confiscate laptops and iPods from law abiding citizens without any provocation or justification. The Department “clarified” their policies after several business travelers started asking the press why Homeland Security was fiddling with their laptops and PDAs for months on end.
