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How many of you read the Terms of Service word-for-word when you’re about to download software from the Internet? I’ll admit that I skim this particular document because the lawyer-speak drives me nuts. I don’t remember having to agree with a TOS before I uploaded the Kindle app to my iTouch last year, but I’m sure I had to check off something before I could use the app. Evidently, hundreds of people didn’t read the fine print either because they got upset when Amazon removed George Orwell’s 1984 and Animal Farm from their Kindle devices. It didn’t matter to them that Amazon gave them a refund for their purchase; it was the fact that they weren’t given any notice before the books were removed from their personal libraries.
One of David Pogue’s (NY Times) readers responded by saying, “It’s like Barnes & Noble sneaking into our homes in the middle of the night, taking some books that we’ve been reading off our nightstands, and leaving us a check on the coffee table.”
Amazon responded with this:
The Kindle edition books Animal Farm by George Orwell. Published by MobileReference (mobi) & Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984) by George Orwell. Published by MobileReference (mobi) were removed from the Kindle store and are no longer available for purchase. When this occured, your purchases were automatically refunded. You can still locate the books in the Kindle store, but each has a status of not yet available. Although a rarity, publishers can decide to pull their content from the Kindle store
You are not purchasing an actual book, but the license to download a digitized copy. Does this mean that Amazon has the right to go into your account and remove the books that you paid for? If there is a legal reason, yes. After reading through the first several pages of the Amazon Kindle forum, I’ve come to suspect that someone self-published 1984 and Animal Farm, thinking that the works were under the Public Domain license. That’s giving the user the benefit of the doubt.
If that was the case, that puts Amazon under the legal obligation to remove the pirated copies from their storefront and their customer’s accounts ASAP. That said, they could have given their customers a better explanation than “there was a problem with the book” in the email that they sent. Honesty goes a long way with people.
Out of curiosity, I checked my Kindle library and found that all of the books I’ve purchased are still listed. Thankfully, I have under a dozen. So if they disappeared tomorrow, I wouldn’t have lost a lot of money. I like the convenience of reading digitized books in my car, so this fiasco won’t stop me from buying any more Kindle edition books. However, I will be more diligent and selective.
Source: Mashable
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This is the first I’d heard of it possibly being pirated. I agree, that Amazon should’ve been more honest.
But if a legitimate publisher decided to ‘take back’ publishing it then people would be right to be angry if they lost it.
Benjamin Solah´s last blog ..[Fiction] Friday: To Pass The Time
I agree with you on both points. Publishers wouldn’t be able to get away with snatching physical books from their customers’ hands. Why should they get away with doing that with electronic editions?
I was shocked when I read about Amazon pulling books from Kindles. I can understand if there was a dispute about publishers rights that they would pull something from their site, but it seems wrong for them to yank the material from individuals.
Marti´s last blog ..The Whine Flu
Yes, it was. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a rapid drop in Kindle and ebook sales because of this incident. I think Amazon should revamp their policies where digital books are concerned.
It makes me wonder. If a musician took their music off iTunes would Apple then delete what you bought off your iPod?
Benjamin Solah´s last blog ..Parallel Importation: Is It Australian Literature Versus The Rest Of The World?
Yeah! It makes me wonder, too. I hope this doesn’t start a trend.