Some E-Books Are More Equal Than Others

New York Times by David Pogure | Jul. 17, 2009 (News Report)

This morning, hundreds of Amazon Kindle owners awoke to discover that books by a certain famous author had mysteriously disappeared from their e-book readers. These were books that they had bought and paid for—thought they owned.

But no, apparently the publisher changed its mind about offering an electronic edition, and apparently Amazon, whose business lives and dies by publisher happiness, caved. It electronically deleted all books by this ... Full Story »

Posted by Fabrice Florin

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Subjects: Business, Sci/Tech, Entertainment
Topics: Corporate Governance, Internet, Computers, Books
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Posted by: Posted by Fabrice Florin - Jul 17, 2009 - 12:41 PM PDT
Reviewed by: Fabrice Florin (review), Joey Baker (review), Andrew B (review)
Content Type: Article
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Edited by: Fabrice Florin - Jul 17, 2009 - 12:41 PM PDT

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Fabrice Florin
3.5
 by Fabrice Florin - Jul. 18, 2009

Timely post on an important development that raises serious concerns about Amazon's control over Kindle content.

Pretty creepy move by Amazon and its publishing partner. They're asking for trouble with this disturbing policy. Hope it's not a sign of things to come ...

Fabrice posted this story.
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Andrew B
4.0
 by Andrew B - Jul. 18, 2009

A good article showing the negative impact that DRM (Digital Rights Management) technology often has on consumers. The article details how a disagreement between the publisher and Amazon lead to people losing their ebooks. It also briefly treats the patchwork of international copyright law as the reason for rescinding the books.

I liked this article because it is a clear example of how DRM never benefits consumers. It is also a good example of books that SHOULD be in the public domain but are not due to the ridiculous extensions that have been added to copyright law.

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Joey Baker
3.8
 by Joey Baker - Jul. 17, 2009

Good corporate watchdog journalism.

This is gonna put a new hole in copyright law. I suspect that what Amazon did here is illegal.

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  • Amazon Erases Orwell Books From Kindle Devices Queued

    New York Times | Jul. 18, 2009
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    via Jay Rosen
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