Oolite Bulletins

I didn't realise that Kindle's could be wiped remotely...

I'm guessing I need to copy the content from my Kindle to my PC and then use Calibre to strip the DRM? (I've over 100 books on my Kindle now...)

http://www.bekkelund.net/2012/10/22/out ... mazon-drm/

It's been something they've been doing for a while, unfortunately - when they picked the second-worst book to do this sort of thing with, it actually made the news, though doesn't appear to have stopped them doing it again.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2009/10/ ... 1X20091002

I fear this will be a perpetual problem while these companies 'rent' you products rather than sell them outright. I believe iTunes works the same way with similar problems being reported. The only counter to this seems to be to 'vote with your feet' and not use them, which is often not a viable option. Ain't life grand?!

Hmm ... when Amazon deleted the copies of 1984, that was because the seller (who made the sale via Amazon, and from whose sales Amazon took a slice) didn't have the copyright to sell the book. What Amazon should have done, of course, was a) admit the mistake; b) compensate the customers; c) offer the customers a replacement text of the same book, published by the copyright holders; d) apologise profusely to the copyright holders and promise to institute policies to try to make sure they didn't end up selling stolen goods again. But that's not their style.

Of course, as I work in the book trade, I naturally despise Amazon from the bottom of my heart - their real skills lie mostly in the realm of bullying and tax avoidance, not retail. But the deleting of a Kindle's entire content, and the refusal to tell the customer why it happened, is a new low; and in the runup to Christmas, too! No doubt Amazon feel they are covered by their T&Cs: and as Smivs says, you only rent your ebooks from them. But the evil just piles up: maybe one day it'll fall on them.

I rarely buy ebooks from mass market for precisely this reason. Same with music. I either buy the CD and rip it or find alternative outlets to Amazon.

This sort of thing is exactly why piracy is such a widespread phenomenon. The lady in question has a legal right under the consumer act to question why her purchases have been reclaimed, surely? This is comparable to Asda finding out that someone with the same surname as you recently stole a loaf of bread then coming round to your house and emptying your cupboards.

It's quite shocking, really...

cim wrote:

It's been something they've been doing for a while, unfortunately - when they picked the second-worst book to do this sort of thing with, it actually made the news, though doesn't appear to have stopped them doing it again.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2009/10/ ... 1X20091002

Wow! So, because I chose to buy a book electronically, rather than physically, even though it's my cash, Amazon reserve the right to nuke it from long range? I obviously haven't read their T&Cs properly...

I think I will be buying my e-Books from elsewhere and converting them to the Kindle DRM free from now on...

(I still buy mostly real books and we have a good local bookshop in Hungerford which I will visit if I'm in the area - I've bought ebooks through Amazon out on convenience and because my 11yo dyslexic daughter finds some books easier to read on the Kindle than in traditional paper format).

<shakes his head in disgust at the whole 'you don't own it, we do' idea>

@amazon and @amazonkindle are currently being nuked on Twitter - good...

I'm tweeting every high profile author I follow - to tell them I'm not going to buy their books electronically via Amazon any more (and I was buying more eBooks than physical books as it was easier) so I will invariably be buying less books...

DaddyHoggy wrote:

Wow! So, because I chose to buy a book electronically, rather than physically, even though it's my cash, Amazon reserve the right to nuke it from long range? I obviously haven't read their T&Cs properly...

Yup - if they're covered by Amazon's DRM, you're just renting your ebooks. You can't lend them to people, you can't give them away, you can't leave them to your descendants in your will. They don't belong to you.

Disembodied wrote:

DaddyHoggy wrote:

Wow! So, because I chose to buy a book electronically, rather than physically, even though it's my cash, Amazon reserve the right to nuke it from long range? I obviously haven't read their T&Cs properly...

Yup - if they're covered by Amazon's DRM, you're just renting your ebooks. You can't lend them to people, you can't give them away, you can't leave them to your descendants in your will. They don't belong to you.

I think I will be "backing up" my local copies via Calibre tonight...

I'm not buying any more books for my Kindle - free promos and tasters yes - but no-more paid for content...

Smivs wrote:

I fear this will be a perpetual problem while these companies 'rent' you products rather than sell them outright. I believe iTunes works the same way with similar problems being reported. The only counter to this seems to be to 'vote with your feet' and not use them, which is often not a viable option. Ain't life grand?!

The power of the purse, to quote John Seymour (a real hero in my mind).
This is why I haven't gotten nor want to get a Kindle .

Disembodied wrote:

But the evil just piles up: maybe one day it'll fall on them.

That would be justice

Speaking of Amazon's ongoing parade of evil, I just saw this:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/20 ... -vat-ebook

Security and Exchange Commission filings, highlighted by Bookseller magazine, show that in the past three years, Amazon generated sales of more than £7.6bn in the UK without attracting any corporation tax on the profits from those sales.

I've been boycotting Amazon for most of this year, now, principally because of their massive tax-avoidance (which also includes the hundreds of millions of pounds in VAT they avoided for years by selling CDs and DVDs via Jersey). I still buy a lot of books (print, not e), and I have to say it's not been a problem. There are a few occasions when I've had to pay a little bit more, but it's only a pound or two at most. Any bookseller in the country can order any in-print book: there's nothing magical about Amazon. Well, apart from the armies of winged monkeys. They're the ones who pack the books for despatch - and they don't wash their hands ...

Nobody escapes the taxman, even if there is a sniff of tax avoidance the excise people will be all over them. Looks like a big tax bill will be headed over to Amazon HQ in the very near future. Hope the government uses the money for a new hospital called Kindle Memorial

The next government or alliance of governments who go down the path germany did in the 30's and 40's will simply burn the books by pushing a button. Do all of yourselves a favor: buy real books with pages from a local seller. Supports your local economy and prevents others from obtaining your credit card or account information when you purchase online. The writing is on the wall...