The Great Library of Amazonia 140
theodp writes "Amazon had a dream. To bring the world a modern-day Library of Alexandria. Apparently they had a second dream. To own the patents on it. Interestingly, fears of lost cookbook and reference text sales voiced by the Author's Guild are echoed in Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos's patent application for the Suppression of features in digital images of content and a9.com CEO Udi Manber's follow up Access to electronic images of text based on user ownership of corresponding physical text, which discuss how one might block content from viewers who have no proof-of-purchase for a book on file with booksellers."
Vote with your feet (Score:3, Informative)
If you don't like what Amazon is doing then vote with your feet and walk away from them. If enough consumers make the same free and voluntary choice that you do then Amazon will have to change or close their doors for good. Remember Amazon only exists because they give people what they want.
You have to own books first? (Score:3, Informative)
Unfortunately I don't trust Amazon to do anything for the public good. Well, I don't trust most corporations to do such things. A repository of all the world's knowledge is awfully stupid if it requires you to pay for it. It will simply create another case where you have the haves and have nots.
I think all the projects on WikiMedia are probably the most likely to present us with a repository of knowledge that is accessible to everyone.
Re:I could say the same thing about Clinton & (Score:4, Informative)
Maybe its because I expect more of people and am simply fed up with all the lies this particular administration throws about and then tries to justify that it seems like I'm a leftist.
For example, five days into his first term, Bush was told by Richard Clarke that an immediate meeting was needed to discuss the Al Qaeda threat. Clarke told both Bush and Rice about this meeting and gave them memos stating the urgency of the meeting.
Both Bush and Rice denied ever having been informed of such a meeting. Too bad the memo was released on February 10th of this year [gwu.edu] proving that Clarke was correct when he said during Congressional hearing that Bush was warned about the threat.
Am I giving Clinton a pass? No way. The dingbat had his own issues. I am merely harping on the current officeholder because he's the one doing the stupidity. When the next person comes into office, I'll rail against them as well.
Don't automatically assume that because I or anyone rails against Bush that they are leftists. You'd be surprised how many Republicans are just as disgusted by his antics as the Democrats are.
As a side note, your final comments echo almost exactly what the morons in the Florida legislature were saying about leftists. I guess when people can't back up their arguments it's easier to shoot the messenger than disprove the message.
Free Library (Score:2, Informative)