[Web4lib] RE: Amazon Deletes Orwell from Kindles

Larry Schwartz schwartz at mnstate.edu
Tue Jul 21 14:09:55 EDT 2009


Doesn't this Amazon thing slightly resemble the recording industry's 
assertion that the consumer does not "own" the medium upon which the 
music is placed (LP, tape, CD), but rather reserves ownership to the 
corporation that produced it?  You bought it, but it's not really 
"yours;" we're just letting you borrow it for awhile?  ls.

Amy Rogers wrote:
> For what it is worth, I came across this item the other day. Seemed 
> that if some fact checking were done, there would not have been an 
> outrage.
>
> "The two books in question were published for the Kindle by a company 
> called Mobile Reference, which offers public domain books for around 
> $1. Mobile Reference did not have the right to sell Orwell's novels 
> because 1984 and Animal Farm are still under copyright protection in 
> the United States. They were not legitimate or "perfectly legal" 
> copies of the books, but rather illicit copies that should not have 
> been sold in the first place.
> "Contrary to what the New York Times reported, the publisher did not 
> change its mind, nor did Amazon cave to pressure. Rather, Amazon was 
> notified that copyrighted material was being sold on the Amazon store 
> without permission and it removed said material."
>
> More at http://bit.ly/hQDZQ
>
> "Media goes crazy over Amazon deleting '1984' from Kindle, but 99-cent 
> ebook was illegal copy"
>
>
>
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-- 
Larry Schwartz, Librarian
Livingston Lord Library
Minnesota State University Moorhead
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http://www.mnstate.edu/schwartz
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"People read books in order to gain the privilege of living more than one life." --Garrison Keillor

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