Amazon Apologizes for Big Brother Behavior After Deleting Orwell Books From Kindles
Amazon.com got into some hot water with its Kindle users when it summarily deleted all customers' copies of the George Orwell classics, 1984 and Animal Farm. Customers were furious at the remarkably Orwellian action by the behemoth online book retailer.
So why did Amazon.com delete its customers' books and then refund their money, without prior notice? It was about to get sued for accidentally offering the books for sale when the third party seller didn't have the rights to sell the book. It was a case of life imitating art: only in this case Amazon.com is Big Brother, the books are the censored works that are sent to the "memory hole."
Amazon effectively acknowledged that the deletions were a bad idea. "We are changing our systems so that in the future we will not remove books from customers' devices in these circumstances," Mr. Herdener said.
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People who bought the rescinded editions of the books reacted with indignation, while acknowledging the literary ironies involved. "Of all the books to recall," said Charles Slater, an executive with a sheet-music retailer in Philadelphia, who bought the digital edition of 1984 for 99 cents last month. "I never imagined that Amazon actually had the right, the authority or even the ability to delete something that I had already purchased."
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Amazon appears to have deleted other purchased e-books from Kindles recently. Customers commenting on Web forums reported the disappearance of digital editions of the Harry Potter books and the novels of Ayn Rand over similar issues.
Amazon's published terms of service agreement for the Kindle does not appear to give the company the right to delete purchases after they have been made. It says Amazon grants customers the right to keep a "permanent copy of the applicable digital content."
The copyright on 1984 does not expire until 2044 in the United States, although it was run out in Australia, Canada and Russia. Digital copies can be downloaded from sites in those countries for free.
Gizmodo's Adam Frucci was livid over Amazon.com's actions, saying, "Amazon says this is a 'rarity,' but even once is too many times for bull**it like this to happen. Once I buy a book from Barnes & Noble, I never have to worry about them breaking into my house and taking it back, leaving me a pile of singles on my nightstand." An excellent point.
Amazon.com got into some hot water with its Kindle users when it summarily deleted all customers' copies of the George Orwell classics, 1984 and Animal Farm. Customers were furious at the remarkably Orwellian action by the behemoth online book retailer.
