[Web4lib] Amazon Deletes Orwell from Kindles

[Tim Spalding]

People need to get over the idea that ebooks are "just" books. Just
because you can read it, doesn't mean it's the same thing. Books are
socially and legally situated. You can't change the delivery and legal
structure, and expect everything else to remain the same.

For good or ill—and there's much good here—ebooks are digital
products. You can't have the Democratic Leadership Council arguing for
Kindles to replace textbooks so that outdated information can be
changed instantly*, and not also have Amazon deleting or changing
books without your permission. Digitization has a logic of its own.

There's a lot of good things about the coming ebook world. We probably
don't know all the good things. But we do know some bad things, like
this and the death of bookstores and libraries. From where I sit now,
these along, without the added worry of centralized control over
information, give me real pause.

Tim

*As if the problem with American textbooks were the failure to be
up-to-date, rather than being absolutely wretched.