Re: Amazon remotely deletes 1984

I wonder why Amazon designed the Kindles so that books could be recalled.
To use your analogy, Marion, it's as though a seller of physical items
arranged to copy the locks of every buyer, just in case physical items might
need to be recalled in a hurry.  If the ability to removed purchased books
hadn't been built into the Kindle, Amazon could have legitimately declined
to call back all of the already-purchased books, because it wouldn't have
been possible.

In lieu of removing books from Kindles, Amazon could have . . . .

* asked for customers to agree to the removal of the book (some would have
agreed, perhaps not many, but some)

* created "nagware" so that you'd have to agree/decline the removal before
doing anything else; eventually people would get sick of the message and
agree (esp if there were a refund offer)

* conditioned the download of other books on the return of this one (you can
keep 1984 as long as you don't download something else)

* removed the book from only the online bookshelf . . . eventually the
Kindle owner, or at least some Kindle owners, would delete it from their
device to save space, especially if a refund were still available at that
point

* combined the removal with some kind of firmware upgrade or other special
sale offer (so you're getting something good in exchange for your loss)

* replaced the e-books with a paper copy, free of charge (ok, that would be
expensive, but fair; they could also have offered the option of either
refund or p-book)

I can imagine why none of those options would be more attractive to Amazon
than simply yanking back the contested books, but any of them would have
been less upsetting to customers (and potential customers).

Beth


On Sun, Jul 19, 2009 at 9:02 AM, Marion Gropen <[email protected]>wrote:

> I'd like to toss in some context here.
>
> If you buy a physical item that's stolen, and the original owners or
> the police track it down, you will be forced to return it, whether or
> not you can get a refund from the seller.
>
> Amazon made a mistake and allowed a publisher to upload an ebook to
> which it didn't have the rights. (I suspect that the company was a new
> one, and clueless, rather than malignant, but that's just a personal
> bias.)
>
> Then the error was revealed to them (not sure how, but I suspect that
> the rightsholder protested), and Amazon acted in the way that they'd
> be forced to do if the book were in print: they recalled it from
> everyone that they could find to whom they had sold it.
>
> Now, if it were a print book, the recall would affect bookstores, and
> maybe libraries, but not individuals, because the tracking info would
> be difficult, and the transaction costs would be too high (courts do
> try to be a little reasonable on these things). But with an ebook,
> they CAN recall from individuals, and therefore, they must.
>
> This isn't a new thing, in principle, only in possibilities.
>
> Still: it's a little unnerving.
>
>
> Marion Gropen
> Gropen Associates, Inc.
> By-The-Question Consulting,  Tools for Publishers, & Classes
> www.GropenAssoc.com
> Her blog: www.GropenAssoc.com/blog
>
>
>
>
>
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-- 
Beth


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