Amazon's "1984" Screw-Up, Shows DRM's Evil Reach

**admin** · 19 Jul 2009, 09:48 PM

Those keeping up to date will know of Amazon's 1984 (and Animal Farm) screw-up. What happened was that they allowed a third party to sell these Orwellian masterpieces though their Kindle e-Book store, but it turns out that these third party sellers had no rights to the books. And so refunds had to be issued and that might have been the end of the story.

What Amazon then did is extremely controversial. Through a feature built into the Kindle's DRM, they remotely erased all purchased copies of these books without the user's knowledge or permission. Yes, in this case, it might have been justified and the users are not too badly hurt as they've received a refund. But this shows exactly DRM is evil, according to ZDNet blogger Adrian Kingsley-Hughes, which I concur. This mass erasure of purchased content could one day be repeated, through features built into DRM, if the content owners one day decides that, well, maybe you need to pay for all your content again.

Sure, there would be threats of lawsuits and mass anger, but check your DRM license agreement and you might find that you've agreed to all of this. And why would content owners take back their content? Well, for one, if they ever lose the license themselves to distribute the content, then they are under legal obligation to stop the now unauthorised usage of the content, which after all, is what DRM was invented to prevent. Remember, with DRM, you might be effectively renting, not buying, if you don't check your usage agreement carefully. You have a limited license to use the content in the way specified by the content owners and protected through DRM.

More:

http://blogs.zdnet.com/hardware/?p=4944

**UncasMS** · 19 Jul 2009, 10:22 PM

"brave new world"

doctorhardware · 20 Jul 2009, 04:23 AM

Brave new world based on pure greed.

**admin** · 2 Aug 2009, 02:58 PM

A kid who used the unauthorised 1984 Kindle version to write his book report has sued Amazon, as he lost his homework as well when Amazon decided to unilaterally delete the e-book.

More:

http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/...oy-sues-amazon

doctorhardware · 2 Aug 2009, 03:13 PM

I hope he wins and sticks it to them. They need a good lashing.

drfsupercenter · 3 Aug 2009, 12:08 AM

I'm curious... does the Kindle just use Wi-Fi, or does it have its own magic way of connecting to the Internet?

Because say you were out of town with no Wi-Fi when they erased the books, and you turned yours on, wouldn't it still be there?

**admin** · 3 Aug 2009, 01:26 AM

The Kindle 2 uses 3G. I suppose the erasure will take place the next time you try to connect online, so the only way is to ensure you never connect online again with the Kindle, which makes it rather useless.

doctorhardware · 3 Aug 2009, 02:59 AM

The erase command is held in something like a cue, and until it reports back as completed it will stay there. It waits for the device to be on the network to complete the erase.

drfsupercenter · 3 Aug 2009, 09:19 AM

Well yeah, I realize that... I was just wondering if there might still be people out there who have it on their Kindle since they haven't downloaded any books since then.

**admin** · 6 Sep 2009, 07:59 PM

Amazon finally agrees to restore copies of the deleted e-books, including all notes attached to those copies that were lost when they remote deleted everything. Those who don't want the e-books restored can get a $30 gift certificate from them instead.

doctorhardware · 7 Sep 2009, 04:06 AM

That is the only right thing to do.

19 Jul 2009, 09:48 PM	#1
admin Administrator Join Date: Nov 2001 Posts: 5,182	Amazon's "1984" Screw-Up, Shows DRM's Evil Reach Those keeping up to date will know of Amazon's 1984 (and Animal Farm) screw-up. What happened was that they allowed a third party to sell these Orwellian masterpieces though their Kindle e-Book store, but it turns out that these third party sellers had no rights to the books. And so refunds had to be issued and that might have been the end of the story. What Amazon then did is extremely controversial. Through a feature built into the Kindle's DRM, they remotely erased all purchased copies of these books without the user's knowledge or permission. Yes, in this case, it might have been justified and the users are not too badly hurt as they've received a refund. But this shows exactly DRM is evil, according to ZDNet blogger Adrian Kingsley-Hughes, which I concur. This mass erasure of purchased content could one day be repeated, through features built into DRM, if the content owners one day decides that, well, maybe you need to pay for all your content again. Sure, there would be threats of lawsuits and mass anger, but check your DRM license agreement and you might find that you've agreed to all of this. And why would content owners take back their content? Well, for one, if they ever lose the license themselves to distribute the content, then they are under legal obligation to stop the now unauthorised usage of the content, which after all, is what DRM was invented to prevent. Remember, with DRM, you might be effectively renting, not buying, if you don't check your usage agreement carefully. You have a limited license to use the content in the way specified by the content owners and protected through DRM. More: http://blogs.zdnet.com/hardware/?p=4944 __________________ Visit Digital Digest and dvdloc8.com, My Blog

19 Jul 2009, 10:22 PM	#2
UncasMS Super Moderator Join Date: Nov 2001 Posts: 8,734	"brave new world" __________________

20 Jul 2009, 04:23 AM	#3
doctorhardware Lord of Digital Video Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: In the land of Ice & Snow Posts: 1,725	Brave new world based on pure greed. __________________ Star Baby Girl, Born March,1997 Died June 30th 2007 6:35 PM.

3 Aug 2009, 12:08 AM	#6
drfsupercenter NOT an online superstore Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Michigan Posts: 4,038	I'm curious... does the Kindle just use Wi-Fi, or does it have its own magic way of connecting to the Internet? Because say you were out of town with no Wi-Fi when they erased the books, and you turned yours on, wouldn't it still be there? __________________ CYA Later: d̃ŗf̉śŭp̣ễr̀çëǹt̉ếř Visit my website!! Cool Characters Make your text cool My DVD Collection

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2 Aug 2009, 02:58 PM	#4
admin Administrator Join Date: Nov 2001 Posts: 5,182	A kid who used the unauthorised 1984 Kindle version to write his book report has sued Amazon, as he lost his homework as well when Amazon decided to unilaterally delete the e-book. More: http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/...oy-sues-amazon

2 Aug 2009, 03:13 PM	#5
doctorhardware Lord of Digital Video Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: In the land of Ice & Snow Posts: 1,725	I hope he wins and sticks it to them. They need a good lashing.

3 Aug 2009, 01:26 AM	#7
admin Administrator Join Date: Nov 2001 Posts: 5,182	The Kindle 2 uses 3G. I suppose the erasure will take place the next time you try to connect online, so the only way is to ensure you never connect online again with the Kindle, which makes it rather useless.

3 Aug 2009, 02:59 AM	#8
doctorhardware Lord of Digital Video Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: In the land of Ice & Snow Posts: 1,725	The erase command is held in something like a cue, and until it reports back as completed it will stay there. It waits for the device to be on the network to complete the erase.

3 Aug 2009, 09:19 AM	#9
drfsupercenter NOT an online superstore Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Michigan Posts: 4,038	Well yeah, I realize that... I was just wondering if there might still be people out there who have it on their Kindle since they haven't downloaded any books since then.

6 Sep 2009, 07:59 PM	#10
admin Administrator Join Date: Nov 2001 Posts: 5,182	Amazon finally agrees to restore copies of the deleted e-books, including all notes attached to those copies that were lost when they remote deleted everything. Those who don't want the e-books restored can get a $30 gift certificate from them instead.

7 Sep 2009, 04:06 AM	#11
doctorhardware Lord of Digital Video Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: In the land of Ice & Snow Posts: 1,725	That is the only right thing to do.

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