[Web4lib] Amazon Deletes Orwell from Kindles

[Thomas Dowling]

On 07/20/2009 08:28 PM, Kelly Quinn wrote:
> What if a publisher sold the ebook for one price, then decided to pull
> the Kindle plug for "copyright issues", just so they can sell it for a
> higher price? I wouldn't be surprised if that's really what's
> happening here.

I don't believe there's any mystery about what happened here.  The books came
from a source in one country (Australia) where they're out of copyright, but
got sold in at least one other country (U.S. of A.) where they're still in
copyright, without permission from the copyright owner.   What's surprising and
disappointing is that, instead of apologizing to the copyright owner and making
whatever amends (and restitution) the situation required, Amazon violated their
own Terms of Service and deleted customers' paid-for copies.

[Some] e-books [may] require us to redefine what it means to "buy", "sell", and
"own" a text, but none of that can excuse a vendor from establishing rules and
then breaking them whenever they get a little flustered.


-- 
Thomas Dowling
tdowling at ohiolink.edu