Update of Kindle book removal

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

 one wonders whether or a libel suit successfully prosecuted in the  
United Kingdom will eventually cause companies to reach around the  
world to delete the offending statements. This is clearly  
unacceptable. The rewriting of history does remind one of 1984.

Dave

Begin forwarded message:

From: Jonathan Zittrain <zittrain () law harvard edu>
Date: July 18, 2009 12:12:55 PM EDT
To: dave () farber net
Subject: Update of Kindle book removal

For IP, if you like --

I've blogged about the situation at <http://futureoftheinternet.org/orwellian-indeed 
>.  I think we'll see lots more cases like this as our products are  
transformed into services -- the purchase of a book is no longer the  
transfer of an object but the beginning of a long-term relationship  
with a vendor, putatively governed by a license.

Not only will regulators be tempted to require retraction of  
contraband content -- acting directly, or through the mechanisms of a  
court order arising from a lawsuit -- but the content need not be an  
entire book, video, or song.  An offending passage could be excised or  
altered if found to infringe copyright, defame someone, or otherwise  
be illegal.  Libraries' copies would be similarly affected -- and this  
is actually a natural outgrowth of the idea that courts can issue  
injunctions, after a successful trial, against offending material.

The same is true of technologies.  In the ongoing case of TiVo v.  
EchoStar, <http://yupnet.org/zittrain/archives/14#7>, EchoStar's DVRs  
were found to be infringing TiVo's patents.  Not only did EchoStar owe  
tens of millions of dollars to TiVo, but TiVo persuaded the judge to  
order EchoStar to remotely kill its DVRs.  (The order currently is the  
subject of a contempt proceeding.)

While this might seem a matter of course to the law, it's a sea change  
for us and for our technology.  Going from product to service requires  
us to think through new protections against too-easy government  
enforcement and intrusion, and perhaps to build those protections into  
technology as well as law.  I've got more thoughts at <http://yupnet.org/zittrain/archives/14#35 
>.

Best,
JZ


Jonathan Zittrain
Professor of Law
Harvard Law School | Harvard Kennedy School of Government
Co-Founder, Berkman Center for Internet & Society
<http://cyber.law.harvard.edu>




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