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Amazon Erases Orwell Books From Kindle
New York Times ^ | July 18, 2009 | BRAD STONE

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People who bought the rescinded editions of the books reacted with indignation, while acknowledging the literary ironies involved.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 ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Extended News; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: bigbrother; blair; copyright; dictatorchip; ebooks; kindle; orwell; publishing; techhedgemony; thejokesonus
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To: nickcarraway

I would never trust a Big Brother device or service like the Kendall, iPod, or iTunes. I’ll read books and listen to music I download myself on p2p networks on my netbook.


41 posted on 07/21/2009 12:19:26 PM PDT by counterpunch (In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem. Government is the problem.)
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To: nickcarraway

precisely why we cannot allow ink and paper to vanish


42 posted on 07/21/2009 12:20:06 PM PDT by Buckeye McFrog
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To: rwfromkansas

I’m not so much bothered by the length, but it’s hardly arbritrary.

Didn’t Disney lobby Congress heavily over the “Winnie the Pooh” copyrights, which were to revert to A.A. Milne’s descendents in the 1990s?

That intellectual property is worth BILLIONS.


43 posted on 07/21/2009 12:20:14 PM PDT by SJSAMPLE
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To: TChris

If the seller provided me a hardcopy of the books I bought I would buy a Kindle today. However, as long as it is totally digital with no hardcopy, I will never buy one. I want to be able to resell my property, and I have yet to see a legal way to do that with a Kindle.


44 posted on 07/21/2009 12:20:18 PM PDT by devane617 (Republicans first strategy should be taking over the MSM. Without it we are doomed.)
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To: vladimir998
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.

Now here's something about the Kindle that I really don't like. Amazon can access your device w/o your permission!

45 posted on 07/21/2009 12:20:56 PM PDT by Alex Murphy ("I always longed for repose and quiet" - John Calvin)
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To: SJSAMPLE

Hmmmm. Can having a TOS document that people sign off on supersede the law? My understanding is that it can’t.


46 posted on 07/21/2009 12:21:02 PM PDT by nickcarraway
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To: SJSAMPLE

There is nothing in the terms that gives them the right to delete the books though, that’s the thing.

If it was in there, we could just say it’s not good business practice...but Amazon violated their own terms of service.


47 posted on 07/21/2009 12:21:13 PM PDT by rwfromkansas ("Carve your name on hearts, not marble." - C.H. Spurgeon)
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To: nickcarraway
An e-mail message ... was not immediately returned.

Does this bug anyone besides me?

First it was, "Our requests to interview Mr. "X" were denied."

Then it was, "Our phone calls were not returned."

Now it's "No one answered the e-mail."

What's next? "Our tweets were ignored?"

Talk about blaming someone else because you're a bad reporter.

48 posted on 07/21/2009 12:21:53 PM PDT by HIDEK6
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To: CaptRon

Copyright terms vary by country. That’s what tripped up the vendor of public domain works. Orwell’s books are out of copyright in Canada but not in the US.

Thanks to the Mighty Mickey, nothing will ever again pass out of copyright in the US.


49 posted on 07/21/2009 12:22:05 PM PDT by MediaMole
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To: Ramius

Kendall uses .pdf right?
I’d back up anything on it, especially now that you know they can remotely access your files, read them, and delete them.

Hell, I’d burn the thing.


50 posted on 07/21/2009 12:22:22 PM PDT by counterpunch (In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem. Government is the problem.)
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To: nickcarraway

It’s considered a legal contract, as long as it doesn’t break the law.
Nothing they (Amazon) did appears to break the law (specifically, COPYRIGHT LAW, which is notoriously protective of the copyright holder).


51 posted on 07/21/2009 12:22:39 PM PDT by SJSAMPLE
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To: nickcarraway

In any Kindle dictionary, the word ‘gullible’ is missing!


52 posted on 07/21/2009 12:23:01 PM PDT by pikachu (Being a parent doesn't come with an instruction manual, which is too bad, as you'd love something he)
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To: rwfromkansas

I haven’t read the TOS, but if they had a clause saying that they have the responsibility/right to respect and enforce copyright law, then deleting it from the Kindle would be legal, specific performance.

Heck, they might not even need that clause, since they are bound to obey copyright law anyway?


53 posted on 07/21/2009 12:24:19 PM PDT by SJSAMPLE
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To: SJSAMPLE
Using an Orwellian systematic removal of 1984 to protect ‘property rights’ just makes it double bonus irony.
54 posted on 07/21/2009 12:24:25 PM PDT by TalonDJ
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To: nickcarraway

bookmark


55 posted on 07/21/2009 12:24:52 PM PDT by GOP Poet
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To: nickcarraway
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?

Technically I suppose it's in the same category as stolen merchandise. A thief can't legally sell it, and even somebody that pays money for it doesn't technically "own" it. It still belongs to the rightful owner.

Now, if they were physical books it's just wildly impractical to go out and recover every copy, and I don't suppose any such thing would ever happen. They could "ask" for them back but that's about all. But in this case, it's just an entry in a database that goes "poof". They do it because they can.

I don't have any real heartburn over this. They made a mistake and they're owning up and fixing it. Not a big deal to me.

56 posted on 07/21/2009 12:24:56 PM PDT by Ramius (Personally, I give us... one chance in three. More tea?)
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To: SJSAMPLE

I guess laws in my state laws are different. Theft is illegals, as is trespassing on private property.


57 posted on 07/21/2009 12:26:55 PM PDT by nickcarraway
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To: CaptRon

Unfortunately, the presentation of public-domain material can itself be copyrighted. The company that pulled Kindle’s plug on Animal Farm likely has copyrighted the formatting and other aspects of a particular presentation; Amazon cannot just “photocopy” their publication of the public-domain work and sell that without license or compensation.


58 posted on 07/21/2009 12:27:01 PM PDT by ctdonath2 (John Galt was exiled.)
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To: SJSAMPLE
Unlike a patent, a copyright doesn’t prevent the progression of new ideas and inventions.

Sure it does. If my new idea involves using an identifiable part of your work in a new way (i.e. sampling the bass line of your hit song) then I'm in trouble.

59 posted on 07/21/2009 12:27:47 PM PDT by TChris (There is no freedom without the possibility of failure.)
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To: LostPassword
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).

Kindle files can be backed up locally too... No sweat. It mounts like an external USB device on your computer.

60 posted on 07/21/2009 12:28:21 PM PDT by Ramius (Personally, I give us... one chance in three. More tea?)
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