Amazon Pulls Purchased E-Book Copies of 1984 and Animal Farm 645
Oracle Goddess writes "In a story just dripping with irony, Amazon Kindle owners awoke this morning to discover that 1984 and Animal Farm had mysteriously disappeared from their e-book readers. These were books that they had bought and paid for, and thought they owned. Apparently the publisher changed its mind about offering an electronic edition, and apparently Amazon, whose business lives and dies by publisher happiness, caved. It electronically deleted all books by George Orwell from people's Kindles and credited their accounts for the price. Amazon customer service may or may not have responded to queries by stating, 'We've always been at war with Eastasia.'"
Why Buy it When you Can Get it Legally for Free? (Score:5, Informative)
Who would buy a book from a publisher and sales person who think it's okay to sell you DRM crap and then take it away on a whim when you can get those exact same books legally, and for free?
Animal Farm: http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks01/0100011.txt [gutenberg.net.au]
1984: http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks01/0100021.txt [gutenberg.net.au]
Re:Why Buy it When you Can Get it Legally for Free (Score:5, Informative)
when you can get those exact same books legally
That's great if you're kicking it in the Outback or somewhere else sane, but here in the States 1984 it is still under copyright (I assume using the simple heuristic that it was created after Steam Boat Willie) and so probably not actually legal.
Stay away from the Kindle! (Score:5, Informative)
For "$DEITY" sake, don't use, buy or recommend to anyone the Kindle!
It was designed from day one to be enable Amazon to fuck you and this is exactly what happened. I'm not surprised.
An alternative ereader with better hardware, open architecture and NOT defective by design is the iLiad by iRex. Yes, it runs Linux and you can install third-part programs. And, yes, it costs a little more, but if you value your freedom (and your books) it's more than worth it.
Disclaimer: I don't work for iRex, I'm only an happy customer.
Free at Project Gutenberg (Score:2, Informative)
Well, suspicion confirmed (Score:2, Informative)
Well, this at least confirms that Amazon does have absolute power over the Kindle and relegates it to the land of Zune for me. That, and that iRiver's mp3 player has a text reader as well.
Re:Legally, how? (Score:5, Informative)
Except it's NOT in the license. Quoted here in case it mysteriously changes:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=200144530&#content [amazon.com]
Re:Stay away from the Kindle! (Score:2, Informative)
This isn't a karma hunt, just looking for legitimate copies of the books on an e-reader.
Re:The author has been dead for 60 years! (Score:2, Informative)
Uh... I meant this:
http://www.george-orwell.org/1984/index.html [george-orwell.org]
Re:Not Big Brother. (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Stay away from the Kindle! (Score:5, Informative)
Not to nitpick, but 1984 and Animal Farm aren't available for the iRex at all. Not legally anyway. And if they are, I will certainly mod you up for linking me to them.
They are legally published by Project Gutenberg Australia [gutenberg.net.au] (see: George Orwell [gutenberg.net.au]). Depending on how sane is copyright law in the country where you live it may be illegal for you to read them, and/or you may be legally allowed to buy a DRMed copy and convert it to a non-DRMed format.
Re:Whatever The Party says (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Legally, how? (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Put down the pitchforks (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Stay away from the Kindle! (Score:5, Informative)
The key to dealing with DRM is to make sure you are aware that the media is encumbered before you decide to buy and to factor the DRM into the purchase (for instance, most people that know about and understand the DRM used on DVDs purchase them anyway), not to avoid any and all hardware that supports playing that media.
I see two problems here: first, most people don't know that Amazon can remotely delete or change their books at any time (yes, they can even change the contents of your books after you have purchased them; the Kindle it's a censor wet dream).
Second I don't have any problem with hardware or software that allows me to read/listen/watch DRMed formats (e.g.: mplayer allows me to watch DVDs, that ok). What I don't like is when my computers/devices obey someone not me (e.g.: my hardware DVD player don't allow me to skip that stupid FBI bullshit).
Re:haha (Score:3, Informative)
Buy "FSC", "SFI", "PEFC" or "Green Edition" books. It guarantees that the forests were managed correctly and that the corrugated was recycled humanely.
Re:Class Action Lawsuit? (Score:3, Informative)
Well, that's pretty much Amazon's problem, now isn't it.
Look up First Sale Doctrine, but more importantly, Holder In Due Course. If you had no reason to believe the transaction was encumbered, then you're not liable for anything the seller did.
And a Reasonable Man wouldn't expect bad behaviour from Amazon...
Re:Stay away from the Kindle! (Score:3, Informative)
Not to nitpick, but 1984 and Animal Farm aren't available for the iRex at all. Not legally anyway. And if they are, I will certainly mod you up for linking me to them.
Hmmmm.... and how exactly are you going to do that? You know, you can't moderate in this discussion because you commented on it... Doh?
What happened to the annotations? (Score:1, Informative)
Re:Stay away from the Kindle! (Score:5, Informative)
Incorrect. Ask any atheist today, or examine the wording, and you'll find it's a lack of affirmation.
The positive affirmation you want it to be would be called antitheism, not atheism.
Re:Kindle has a remote kill feature? (Score:3, Informative)
"The iPod doesn't have a permanent Internet connection like the kindle -so no"
Neither does the Kindle. There are two switches on the back (at least in the first model) and you can independently turn off both the Kindle reader power and the "cellphone" power that allows wireless purchases, etc. I have my wireless powered off about 99.5% of the time so a battery charge lasts for over a week.
Re:haha (Score:4, Informative)
Re:The author has been dead for 60 years! (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Legally, how? (Score:1, Informative)
(a) That is not the same as revoking the ability of all players to play a specific blu-ray movie.
(b) It is not at all comparable. Even if you buy a blu-ray player and a bunch of movies, and your blu-ray player's decryption key is revoked, you can still use said player to watch all of the movies released before your player's key was revoked. In other words, you can't have something you already purchased taken away from you as has happened in this article.
I'm not saying I'm a fan of blu-ray's security measures, but comparing them to a brand of DRM which can actively take away content you have purchased with no warning and no possibility for intervention is simply absurd.
Here is what I know... (Score:3, Informative)
From reading the various comments, it appears that someone illegally sold the books in question using the
Amazon 'self-publishing' feature. In other words, Amazon had no right to sell the book in the first place.
Amazon certainly failed in its responsibility to ensure it was only selling things it was entitled too. And Amazon has yet to clearly state that this is what actually happened.
But I think the respresentations in the media so far is that the publisher of Orwells books changed their mind, which does not appear to be the case. If that happened, people who had purchased the book already would still have their purchase. Rather, in this case, Amazon sold 'stolen merchandise', and the technology behind the Kindle allows recourse unlike a physical book.
Score 1 to Stallman (Score:4, Informative)
http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html [gnu.org]
Re:Class Action Lawsuit? (Score:4, Informative)
If you had no reason to believe the transaction was encumbered, then you're not liable for anything the seller did.
If you had no reason to believe the goods were stolen, you won't wind up in jail either, but you'll still have to give the goods back. The legitimate holder's rights come first. This principle is particularly important when it comes to copyright, because otherwise a single infringing copier could effectively negate an entire copyright, while not having anything close to the resources to fairly compensate the legitimate copyright holder for the resulting damage.
Feedbooks (Score:2, Informative)
Orwell's 1984 and Animal Farm are freely available from Project Gutenburg and from FeedBooks.
FeedBooks even has them nicely formatted for the Kindle and a very convenient catalog useable from the Kindle to download them at will. For more information, see: http://www.feedbooks.com/help/kindle [feedbooks.com]
Once again Slashdot posts stupid headlines. (Score:5, Informative)
I think Amazon did the right thing and according to their official response [amazon.com]:
Amazon Kindle Customer Service says:
"These books were added to our catalog using our self-service platform by a third-party who did not have the rights to the books. When we were notified of this by the rights holder, we removed the illegal copies from our systems and from customers' devices, and refunded customers. We are changing our systems so that in the future, books will not be removed from customers' devices in these circumstances."
Re:Whatever The Party says (Score:3, Informative)
I was too lazy to add links but these guys do this
http://www.alwaysinnovating.com/touchbook/ [alwaysinnovating.com]
esentially an Arm based netbook tablet with the guts behind the screen and a plug in keyboard which sort of turns it back into a netbook again.
It looks like the keyboard is weighted down with a battery to make a stable netbook.
Pricing appears to be $300 for the tablet or $400 for the tablet + keyboard battery combo. I think they have used something like a wireless keyboard to get a unit which can work detached from the screen.
I'd like to introduce them to these guys
http://pixelqi.com/ [pixelqi.com]
who make these screens
http://jkkmobile.blogspot.com/2009/06/hands-on-with-pixel-qis-new-epaper.html [blogspot.com]
Essentially its an LCD Screen which can turn off the backlight and run in a black and white mode at quite a low power.
PixelQI used one of the first screens to mod an aspire one.
speaking of mods heres a nice diy version of an aspire one tablet.
http://www.liliputing.com/2008/10/acer-aspire-one-retooled-as-a-tablet-style-umpc.html [liliputing.com]
Re:UPDATE: They're sorry, and they promise not ... (Score:3, Informative)
How freakin' hard is it to make a url into a link [informationweek.com]? I mean, really...
Re:Whatever The Party says (Score:5, Informative)
but these novels are impiratable since their copyright has expired
Hmm....
George Orwell died in 1950. (link [wikipedia.org]), and 1984 was published in 1949.
The copyright law in effect in the US in 1949 allowed for a 28 "first" term, with a possible 28 year extension. (link [wikipedia.org]).
The law was changed in 1976, allowing any published work still in its first-term to be extended another 67 years. Since 1949 + 28 = 1977, Orwell's work was still in its first term, and would not have expired under the original law until 2005 -- or 2053 under the 1976 extension.
AND, the 1998 Sony Bono copyrgiht extension slapped a flat "life + 75 years" deal, which is kinda a moot point but would still push copyright unil at least 2024.
ANNND, any signficiant edits work of 1984 would have created a new derivitive work, with a whole new copyright.
Or in other words--1984 is probably still well covered by copyright, and not technically in the public domain in the United States.
(Yes, you can find a copy on the internet. This is the internet, where you can also find anything and everything for free if you look hard enough.)
(And, yes, I know Orwell was from the UK. I don't know the UK laws, I don't have a good guide for the UK laws, and as far as I know copyright law on the other side of the pond is still a grant given by the king to a publisher so that a particular work gets published.... so 1984 might never get into the public domain at all.)
(Not to mention that if it's not in there now, the "Mickey Mouse" effect might keep it from ever getting there.)
Re:Whatever The Party says (Score:3, Informative)
And then it would be legal for me to import that book, right?
Not unless you have the written permission of the US copyright holder on 1984. Which they usually don't give without receiving money.
Electrons mean crap here. It's copyright.
Re:Whatever The Party says (Score:5, Informative)
so therefore the copyright extension is not retroactive to them
Go read the law linked to by the copyright office. The relevant section is below. Short form: 1984 got a second extension of 67 years, instead of 28. So instead of expiring back in 2005, it's expiring circa 2039
(a) Copyrights in Their First Term on January 1, 1978. â"
(1)
(A) Any copyright, in the first term of which is subsisting on January 1, 1978, shall endure for 28 years from the date it was originally secured.
(B) In the case of â"
(i) any posthumous work or of any periodical, cyclopedic, or other composite work upon which the copyright was originally secured by the proprietor thereof, or
(ii) any work copyrighted by a corporate body (otherwise than as assignee or licensee of the individual author) or by an employer for whom such work is made for hire,
the proprietor of such copyright shall be entitled to a renewal and extension of the copyright in such work for the further term of 67 years.
(C) In the case of any other copyrighted work, including a contribution by an individual author to a periodical or to a cyclopedic or other composite work â"
(i) the author of such work, if the author is still living,
(ii) the widow, widower, or children of the author, if the author is not living,
(iii) the author's executors, if such author, widow, widower, or children are not living, or
(iv) the author's next of kin, in the absence of a will of the author, shall be entitled to a renewal and extension of the copyright in such work for a further term of 67 years.
Re:Whatever The Party says (Score:2, Informative)
With the "em" tag inside a "b" tag for a bold emphasis