More on TechnologyTell: Gadget News | Apple News
Stolen Kindles, Apple tablet, Nvidia’s tab plans, Google’s library intentions, and iPhone-toting citizen reporters
August 31, 2009 | 4:05 am
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By David Rothman
Links of interest this morning:
- Lost or stolen Kindle? Amazon says you’re out of luck—from Ars Technica.
- When the Apple tablet comes out, are you in?—from CNET News.
- Tablets computers are coming soon, says Nvidia—from the New York Times.
- Google’s plan for world’s biggest library: Philanthropy or act of piracy—from the Guardian.
- All a cub reporter needs is a scoop and an iPhone—from the New York Times.
OK, the hot one here is the Kindle item. What do you think, gang? Should Amazon change its ways and work to make lost or stolen machines easier for owners to track down? Meanwhile DRM strikes again. From Ars:
… the other downside to losing a Kindle (besides unsuccessfully trying to frustrate the person who now has it) is the fact that users can no longer access their purchased Kindle books unless they use the Kindle iPhone app or purchase another Kindle. "Not only could I not read them if I had them due to their DRM," Smith told us, "but my purchased content is not even available to me through the Amazon site so long as I do not have a Kindle registered—I confirmed this to be the case with one of the two first-level customer service people."
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Comments:
How can we complain on one hand about the excessive control Amazon exerts over the Kindle while in our possession (the 1984 debacle) and at the same time ask them to retain more control when our Kindle is lost or stolen?
I think Amazon’s response is the right one. You bought a device and some books from them, and they were lost or stolen. Why should this be Amazon’s problem? Would you go to Borders and complain if your paperback were stolen?
Excellent question, Jon, but I’d hope there would be ways for the Kindle to be able to report information that the USER wanted it to. Location is a different issue from what’s read, or whether Amazon can yank it away like Big Bro.
Thanks,
David
What would be the cost to recover a stolen Kindle? Most police departments have a limited budget and sending them out for a $300 ebook reader is not going to get top priority in many places.
Wasn’t there something on a stolen Kindle in San Francisco awhile ago? Customer called Amazon, Amazon said they need a police report, customer called SFPD, SFPD said Kindle wasn’t valuable enough for them to take a stolen item report, and customer bellyached about Amazon doing nothing.
And if Amazon ever did brick up a Kindle there would be outrage among this or that group. Suppose a man gives his wife a Kindle, six months later they divorce, man reports Kindle “stolen” out of spite, Amazon bricks it up, and wife goes apepoo.
Right now a customer with a stolen Kindle can have it deactivated from its account and get a refund for any unauthorized purchases. Not as good as getting back stolen merchandise, but maybe it is good enough.
But, Greg, perhaps Kindles would be less likely to be stolen in the first place if word got around that there were risks for the thieves. What’s more, sometimes a Kindle isn’t the only thing stolen. At any rate, here a story of tech being used to recover a stolen iPhone.
Thanks,
David
Other than deactivating an account for a specific Kindle what more can Amazon do?
If one of my Kindles is lost or stolen all I care about is Amazon deactivating it so the new “owner” can’t buy books on my dime.
The Kindle, unlike the iPhone, does not have a built-in GPS unit so you cannot locate/track the device to a location that would be narrow enough to be of use in recovering same.
As has already been mentioned, if Amazon did have the ability to provide an exact location the hew and cry about the intrusiveness and privacy invasion by that evil Bezos empire would be deafening.
To many folks, where they are (and when they are there) may be just as private (if not more so) as what they read, what they eat, etc. Many folks don’t want to leave a trail of breadcrumbs of any kind.
Jon is right – people can’t have it both ways. The tinfoil hat crowd would likely never believe that Bezos wasn’t personally always monitoring them whether they chose to let Amazon or not!