Posted on 07/21/2009 11:54:55 AM PDT by nickcarraway
In George Orwell’s “1984,” government censors erase all traces of news articles embarrassing to Big Brother by sending them down an incineration chute called the “memory hole.”
On Friday, it was “1984” and another Orwell book, “Animal Farm,” that were dropped down the memory hole — by Amazon.com.
In a move that angered customers and generated waves of online pique, Amazon remotely deleted some digital editions of the books from the Kindle devices of readers who had bought them.
An Amazon spokesman, Drew Herdener, said in an e-mail message that the books were added to the Kindle store by a company that did not have rights to them, using a self-service function. “When we were notified of this by the rights holder, we removed the illegal copies from our systems and from customers’ devices, and refunded customers,” he said.
Amazon effectively acknowledged that the deletions were a bad idea. “We are changing our systems so that in the future we will not remove books from customers’ devices in these circumstances,” Mr. Herdener said.
Customers whose books were deleted indicated that MobileReference, a digital publisher, had sold them. An e-mail message to SoundTells, the company that owns MobileReference, was not immediately returned.
Digital books bought for the Kindle are sent to it over a wireless network. Amazon can also use that network to synchronize electronic books between devices — and apparently to make them vanish.
An authorized digital edition of “1984” from its American publisher, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, was still available on the Kindle store Friday night, but there was no such version of “Animal Farm.”
People who bought the rescinded editions of the books reacted with indignation, while acknowledging the literary ironies involved. “Of all the books to recall,” said Charles Slater, an executive with a sheet-music retailer in Philadelphia,
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Why?
Unlike a patent, a copyright doesn’t prevent the progression of new ideas and inventions.
It would seem that Orwell’s work is outside the law, since it was published before 1978 and he is clearly dead.
HA!
The length of time since Walt Disney created Mickey Mouse plus zero to twenty years, depending on how close it is to when Congress needs to lengthen copyrights again.
Did they ever solve the whole “Winnie the Pooh” thing?
Kindle is worse than the ipod....
You can’t do the following:
1) Lend the book to anybody.
2) Sell your digital copy to anybody like you could a regular book.
3.....and now, you don’t even own it really.
I will never buy a Kindle.
At least the ipod’s hiccups are mostly easily fixed if you want to copy the music off onto your computer etc.
geeze absolutly not now.
The remote screwing with your library should not be allows period.
Amazon could literally erase ALL books. (on your and everyone’s kindle)
>>How long does a copyright last?
>
>Far too long.
Agreed.
>It should be something like a patent, IMO: 20 years.
Maybe 40 years, or perhaps the life of the author... (there are plenty of books that have become popular after 25 years while the author is still alive) but certainly not what exists.
That’s a good reason not to get a Kindle. I mean I understand what they did and it’s right most of the way, if they company they bought from didn’t have the rights then they need to stop selling it. But, I hate active devices that can have stuff deleted from them remotely without my involvement.
It is already in the public domain in other countries...well before us.
I understand the rights issue, but does that negate our rights? If they had published a paperback accidentally, could they come take it out of my house without permission? Even if they left $.99 on the counter?
That’s probably why it’s a good idea to read the “Terms of Service”.
Not that we could understand it.
Or read it in helvetica 2pt.
Or finish it.
Disney lobbied to change the law because steamboat willie was about to enter the public domain.
“Terms of Service”
I’ve considered getting one since I got to play with it a few months ago. Not considering it any more. If they can do that remotely, what else can they do? I think they sell news articles. I’d had to archive an interesting article and find it’s been deleted (or worse changed) when I go back to read it. News articles on the web can be changed too, but if I find an interesting one I can save it to my local drive that nobody can delete or modify (at least no legally).
Ouroboros?
Granted, but I am for 20-year copyrights just because they keep getting longer.
It’s ridiculous to expect two centuries to pass before something goes into the public domain.
They refunded the customers’ money.
Oh cruel, cruel irony...
I’m one of the people that this affects. I downloaded Animal Farm and 1984 last month, and I’ve already finished them. I didn’t know about this until I got an email last week from Amazon that they were crediting my account for the cost of the book ($0.88)+tax, and removing it from their list. They said they were expecting to have an authorized edition soon. Animal Farm did disappear from my Kindle.
1984 is still there, though. Either they haven’t processed it yet, or they have worked out the licensing already.
I briefly entertained the idea of e-mailing them back that I had already read the books... should I proceed to forget them as well?
I'm not a lawyer but I suspect the answer might well be yes.
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