"Steal Back This E-Book!" - Amazon Channels Big Brother

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Lauren Weinstein <lauren () vortex com>
Date: July 17, 2009 6:18:43 PM EDT
To: dave () farber net
Subject: "Steal Back This E-Book!" - Amazon Channels Big Brother



        "Steal Back This E-Book!" - Amazon Channels Big Brother

             http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/000597.html


Greetings.  In a turn of events so ironic that even the seediest
Hollywood porn producer would have rejected the plot as ridiculously
unrealistic, Amazon.com has demonstrated that the worlds of electronic
vs. paper books are universes apart, and in one fell swoop magnified
the worst fears of e-book detractors around the world.

The script sounds so ridiculous that it's almost embarrassing to
recount.  To retroactively satisfy a demand from one of their
suppliers, Amazon reportedly reached electronically into
privately-owned Kindle electronic book readers and *deleted*
recently purchased copies of -- get this -- "1984" and "Animal Farm"
by George Orwell.

The irony drips so thickly that it practically coagulates on spinning
disk drives.  Just as 1984's Winston Smith's role was to delete and
change unacceptable points of history from information databases,
Amazon -- without any warning and without asking for permission from
Kindle owners -- destroyed e-books that had been legally purchased,
replacing them with a purchase credit.

This is *precisely* the functional equivalent of Barnes &
Noble -- or Amazon itself for that matter -- using a crowbar or
lock pick to break into your home or business, then stealing back
a previous physical book purchase, replacing it with the equivalent
value in cash.

That this act of seemingly legal larceny was facilitated by Amazon's
"closed ecosystem" for Kindle purchases should not be lost on
observers.  With the clicking of a few keyboard keys at "Kindle
Central Control," Amazon undermined years worth of efforts by e-book
proponents to convince the public that e-book purchases are just "as
good" as having physical books in hand from a transactional
standpoint.

I don't care one nit what sort of fine print in the Kindle terms of
service Amazon may use to justify this outrageous and unacceptable
behavior.  To my mind, it's breaking and entering, plain and simple.

If Amazon -- or any other players in the e-book industry for that
matter -- can get away with this sort of behavior, it calls into
question the entire foundation of trust that is necessary for a
healthy e-book industry -- an industry I would very much like to see
thrive.

For Amazon to cease future sales of particular e-books upon request of
the associated vendor would likely be completely reasonable in most or
all cases.  But to retroactively remove legitimately purchased
materials from customer-owned hardware is absolutely beyond the pale.

Amazon owes their customers, and the entire e-book industry, one hell
of an apology.  And Amazon had damn well better not pull a stunt like
this again!

--Lauren--
Lauren Weinstein
lauren () vortex com
Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800
http://www.pfir.org/lauren
Co-Founder, PFIR
  - People For Internet Responsibility - http://www.pfir.org
Co-Founder, NNSquad
  - Network Neutrality Squad - http://www.nnsquad.org
Founder, GCTIP - Global Coalition
  for Transparent Internet Performance - http://www.gctip.org
Founder, PRIVACY Forum - http://www.vortex.com
Member, ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/laurenweinstein




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