Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Our very own memory hole

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/18/technology/companies/18amazon.html?_r=1&hp

It’s so ironic that this has taken place. But there are some things I just don’t understand:
  • How and why was MobileReference able to add books to the Kindle store if they didn’t have the right to? It’s a simple verification check for Amazon (even with a self-service function) and that was a major mistake.
  • The customers who were surprised that wifi can be used to remove a file from their Kindle unit need to wake up. That said, I wonder when the Kindle servers will be hacked…
  • “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.’” So even if Amazon installs the correct copy of each file to replace the ones they removed, they have lost credibility with existing customers, as well as showing non-users that the unit itself, Amazon, and who knows how many publishers can’t be trusted.
  • “Retailers of physical goods cannot, of course, force their way into a customer’s home to take back a purchase, no matter how bootlegged it turns out to be. Yet Amazon appears to maintain a unique tether to the digital content it sells for the Kindle.” Now this just seems wrong. Don’t publishers have the right to the digital content they have published in paper form? Isn’t it theirs? Not Amazon’s? Did they sell it to Amazon? This Kindle thing is turning into an evil genius.
  • And finally, I wonder what Ayn Rand would have to say about this…

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