               Tennant: Digital Libraries
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Is the Kindle Ushering In A Golden Age of Censorship?July 17, 2009 David Pogue, technology writer for the New York Times, blogged about a very disturbing event that happened today. Amazon automatically erased all copies of (how appropriate) George Orwell's books 1984 and Animal Farm from the Kindles of anyone who had purchased either or both of those titles. Yes, you read right. Amazon erased the books. Sure, they credited the accounts with the purchase price, but that's not the point.Apparently, the publisher had changed its mind about offering these titles as e-books and they persuaded Amazon to withdraw them. As one of Pogue's readers said "it’s like Barnes & Noble sneaking into our homes in the middle of the night, taking some books that we’ve been reading off our nightstands, and leaving us a check on the coffee table." The Kindle ability that many people like and enjoy -- the ability to easily download new content just about anywhere and anytime -- is also the very mechanism that can be used to censor what they read. Yes, I realize that this is an issue regarding publication rights, but it doesn't take an imagination of Orwellian proportions to do the math. What would stop Amazon, or any entity with enough sway over Amazon (and here the list is longer than you may think) from censoring what you're reading? At this point, nothing. Welcome to 1984 -- only 25 years later than predicted. From the point of view of someone wishing to select what you read, this must seem like the Golden Age of Censorship. Just control the delivery platform -- or be able to persuade those who do -- and you're good to go. I'm actually glad this happened, since it might serve to wake us up to the potential dangers of this model for e-book distribution. Think about it. A company came into your house in the night and took back what you had legally purchased without your consent or even knowledge. Lord help us all. Posted by Roy Tennant on July 17, 2009 | Comments (6) Industries: News & Features
July 17, 2009
In response to: Is the Kindle Ushering In A Golden Age of Censorship? Jenny Reiswig commented: I wonder if there's more going on here. I've read speculation that this "publisher" actually doesn't have the rights to that content - the books are still available for Kindle from a different publisher. So what's Amazon supposed to do in a case like that? IF this turns out to be the truth, Amazon is definitely at fault for not being truthful about why the content was deleted. But more clumsy than evil, really.
July 17, 2009
In response to: Is the Kindle Ushering In A Golden Age of Censorship? Daniel M. Clark commented: Has Amazon made an official statement about it yet?
July 17, 2009
In response to: Is the Kindle Ushering In A Golden Age of Censorship? Jenny Reiswig commented: (Me again) What's odd to me here is that Amazon's MUSIC store is totally without DRM. You buy it, you buy it. I love their mp3 store. I guess I'm woefully uninformed, but when I think about the music industry vs the book industry I would have picked the music industry to be more hard-core about DRM. Live and learn, right?
July 18, 2009
In response to: Is the Kindle Ushering In A Golden Age of Censorship? Kim commented: There are still many people out there, including me, who like the physical book. Newspapers and magazines are great online, but I don't really want to curl up with a Kindle. I think it's probable that there was a problem with publication rights, an issue that should have been resolved before Amazon offered the book as an ebook. It seems odd that the publisher would allow it and then not allow it.
July 21, 2009
In response to: Is the Kindle Ushering In A Golden Age of Censorship? Sampiro commented: Since I'm not able to finish reading 1984 on my Kindle, can somebody please tell me whether we're still at war with Eurasia?
July 21, 2009
In response to: Is the Kindle Ushering In A Golden Age of Censorship? Roy Tennant commented: Sampiro: ROTFL...thanks, that was great. What cannot be improved with humor?
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