What.

wtf

What on earth are they thinking?

There's usually a "good" reason for this, and if there isn't, someone start the Anti-Amazon petition.

Sorry for the double-post, but after reading the article, owners were refunded. The publisher pulled the book, not Amazon. So not quite so creepy.

Way to destroy fledgling consumer confidence in digital distribution, Amazon. No wonder so many turn to piracy.

wow, i almost bought one of those things, came real close, didn't because unlike mp3 you really don't own the books you get and now i see just how much you don't really own the books, not only can't you sell them later on, like you can with regular books, or give them away, like you can with other books, but they can take them away from you at anytime they and the copyright owners are fighting with each othr.

yeap, even after people pay for them. wow, and they give lawyers a bad name, sounds like a class action lawsuit is what is needed.

customer is poorly represented in this new electronic world...

This is the proof that no one really cares about things you BUY!! If you bought the ebook than you can still have it. Oh, I don't want anyone to have my printed book, let's call the police and search every single house for a copy of the book and burn it (a little bit nazi for you? ) So, the big brother is taking a different approach. Instead of the governments it's companies.

Congratulations America. This is the so called FREEDOM..

WTF, I will stick with good old paper and guess what, no batteries required.
This is another reason I don't do DRM that requires a internet connection to activate the game and download games like Steam. You can argue that steam would never block a game but I bet a week ago no one would say they would books (I guess they rent/lease) deleted off their kindle.

lol.. irony indeed...
Big brother really is watching!

That is morally wrong, legally too, I would imagine. If they put a book up for sale electronically it should be treated just like the paper copy. I certainly have lost interest in this kind of technology regardless of how rare the occurrence.

Four legs good. Two legs bad.

So are those who lost the books due to this getting refunds? If I as one of those effected by this I certainly would demand one.

Yeah, I like owning my books. I can't lose them all at once or delete them... oh and I can lend them (old-school piracy)

I have been purchasing ebooks through EReader.com for several years now (they are part of Palm One). No activation, I have the books on several devices, and never had a problem. I cannot remember the last time I actually purchased a paper book. This is a really bad business move on Amazon's part.

Why George Orwell?

So, basically, this is one of those "you don't own the software, you only license it" deals, except it isn't software, it's a book. Well, at least I can rest in peace knowing Amazon or a book publisher won't walk in my house and STEAL my books from my shelf. In my eyes this is stealing, even if their is a refund. How is this different from the publisher asking for its book back from your shelf with a full refund. This makes the Kindle that much more unappealing.

This is WHY:
- Digital Downloads of movies are NOT secure. Why BluRay or other solid-state future storage for movies will still be better.

- Windows XP and newer MS-OS kind of suck. The EULA states that MS has the rights to: modify or delete ANYTHING on YOUR computer. Remember, Windows caches and stores all kinds of personal information... that other OSs don't seem to "need" to do.

- This is not good for Kindle, Amazon. Another idiot media company, not understanding the future. Lets see... anyone can lend a friend a book or DVD, etc. I just lent a work-buddy my box-set of Fire Fly (which I've done 6 times before), he'll be buying his OWN box set now.

I would never buy kindle. I rarely buy books at all, even though I read a lot. There's a thing called a library where I can go to borrow a book free of charge, and then take it back once I'm done. It's really great. I highly suggest them for people who read a lot.

The article linked to has an addition:
"EDITOR’S NOTE | 8:41 p.m. The Times published an article explaining that the Orwell books were unauthorized editions that Amazon removed from its Kindle store. However, Amazon said it would not automatically remove purchased copies of Kindle books if a similar situation arose in the future."
So these ebook sales weren't legal in the first place, because the real rights holder apparently didn't approve. Amazon says the remote deletions were a bad idea and won't be doing that again, even if the same situation pops up.
Still, now way am I getting a Kindle now.

Tantamount to a larceny.

Wow....just wow....

They just killed any hope of ebooks for the future. When they can pull this crap.

This is a prime example of how DRM screws over legit users, while barely being a speed bump to pirates.

I'm amazed too. This is seriously outrageous. A violation of personal rights in the most simple and obvious of ways. I will definitely rethink ANY future purchases of digital "property" not just from Amazon especially, but from any corporation.

Its the publisher that issued the order. The books probably wouldn't have been available in the first place if such a clause wasn't in the contract.

If you want to send a message send it to the publisher! Stop buying from Random House! Send them angry letters and emails explicitly saying you're no longer purchasing there books and are advocating piracy with such actions!

Yikes! I don't like the idea that Amazon has the ABILITY to delete the book from the device in the first place. That "feature" alone dissuades me from wanting to purchase one. I guess I'll stick with the little screen on my iphone.

Can Apple remotely remove my apps too?

It would have been REALLY ironic if it had been Fahrenheit 451

First, hire a lawyer. Second, read through your EULA with your lawyer translating. Third, weep.

Seriously, I think we need consumer legislation to protect us from EULAs. The are so lengthy and incomprehensible that it is unreasonable to assume the average consumer can read and comprehend all the contractual requirements within.

Also, from what I have been reading, the issue deals with different copyright laws. In the US, these books are still under copyright (mainly due to congress constantly extending the time span that copyrights exist). Fortunately for so many other countries, these works are in the public domain as their copyrights expired. Amazon "sells" access to a kindle-compatible version of these public domain books for $0.99. Thus the conflict - the US consumer should not have been able to buy this cheap version but there is a more expensive version.

My understanding is that you are only getting a license to the book, but there are some poor terms which leaves some question as to what you are actually buying. For example, you are allowed to put a *permanent copy* on your computer - but then again they have the right to revoke the license and refund your money.

I know, its really a mess - and part of the bigger IP picture that we see being fought each day with frivolous lawsuits, poorly considered patents, accusations of plagiarism for writing about commonly accepted ideas, and the image fiasco with wikipedia.

Oh, here's a kicker for you Kindle book buyers - did you know there are limits to the installs? Apparently one customer who wiped and reloaded their device found out they could no longer download their books. After a lot of back-and-forth with customer service, the story changed from limited downloads to unlimited downloads but only to a limited number of unique devices. So, upgrade your Kindle and use your iPod (or whatever) to read your books, and you may suddenly find you do not have a license to put it on your next upgrade. Most publishers limit it to 6-8 downloads to unique devices, but some allow only 1 device. The kicker? They don't publish this limit anywhere when buying it. That is like buying a DVD and finding out it will only play in the first 1-8 devices you use it in, but not knowing if it is 1 or 8!

Myself, I'll stick to open formats, things without DRM, and using my tablet pc as my "eReader". Heck, I could even use a Kindle with these devices - but I don't think I'd want to support Amazon which is pro-DRM.

Final thought - someone at the New York Times posted a comment to this effect: if Amazon has the power to pull out books from your system due to copyright infringement, what happens if a government decided to ban a book as offensive? Would Amazon comply with the new ban and pull the book from your library?

Oh, and if you are going to pirate a book, do me a favor - buy a paper copy and use a camera to make your e-copy. Help keep good books being printed. Thanks.

+1 LOL

This is exactly what scares me so much with all the companies turning towards ebooks, and for games DLCs. What it really boils down to these publishers want to eliminate the second hand market (no more used books, games, or movies) so that no one can share or resell their stuff. Think about how much money you would make if everyone had to have their own copy of something bought at full retail price rather than used! It's sickening!

Not like this is the first time customers have been burned by digital rights management rearing its ugly head. To this date I still buy printed books and music on discs, nothing will change that except for lossless products without DRM, which is exactly what's on the disc to begin with.

boy this really upset me, so i did some more research and found the details to be that the books erased were ones sold illegal by some company that did not have the copyright to sell them.

here are the details
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13512_3-10290133-23.html

i think amazon should eat the loss and give each purchaser their money back or a legal copy of the book.

DRM rocks!!! DRM-O$ is even better.