Kindle ebooks: now you see 'em, now you don't

I've already noted that I'm not a Kindle kind of guy. For starters, it's hobbled by rigid DRM rules.

But what if you woke up one morning and discovered that the ebooks you bought and paid for had disappeared? Poof! Amazon.com deleted them from your Kindle. And credited your account for the purchase price.

Can't happen? It did. And this won't be the last time either. (h/t Memeorandum)

The Times published an article explaining that the books were unauthorized editions that Amazon removed from its Kindle store.

Amazon.com needs to stay in the good graces of the book publishers. So if a publisher decides to change the terms of an ebook sale, either by adding new DRM restrictions, or even rescinding the license to distribute the ebook, Amazon has to go along. And when a publisher rescinds the ebook license, your ebook vanishes into thin air.

So what if these ebooks were "unauthorized"? They were sold. If you had purchased a paper copy you would still have it in your possession. (Unless Amazon hires some ACORN guys to ransack your house and remove it by force.) They are certainly within their rights to stop selling nore copies, but erasing the books that were already bought and paid for? That goes against every notion of what buying a book ought to mean.

Oh, but Amazon refunded your money! So, if the theoretical goons who break into your house to reposess that paper book you thought you bought leave a few bucks on the shelf in its place then there is no foul?

Amazon has set a dangerous and chilling precedent. Can iTunes be far behind? Your copy of that new song is "unauthorized"; so sorry, but it's gone from your iPod now.

The entertainment industry keeps telling us they have to institute escalatingly draconian DRM provisions to prevent piracy. They're terrified that one of us will steal from them. But now we see the real problem, what recourse do we have when they steal from us?

Posted at 23:11 by Chris Wysocki   []   Comments | Perm Link |
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