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Amazon clarifies what it will take back from your Kindle
October 5, 2009 | 4:13 pm
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By Paul Biba
As part of the settlement of the cases against it brought by a high school student, Amazon had to clarify its policy on removing purchased books from a Kindle. It will take the book back if you fail to pay for it, if it is ordered to do so by a court or regulatory agency, if you request a refund, if you request the deletion or if the book contained some sort of malware that could affect the Kindle.
Not unusual at first glance. This whole area is brand new so I would expect to see plenty of changes in the future as we all gain more experience with connected readers. As Sony is coming out with a connected reader it will have to be thinking about these issues as well. There are a number of stories about this on the web and you can find CrunchGear’s here.
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Comments:
The whole idea of them being able to take anything off my reader creeps me out. Is there a way to have the kindle turned on and use it without having the wireless turned on? What if I had a kindle and never wanted to use wireless, can you do that?
All versions of the Kindle have a type of off switch for the wireless. It is possible to use the Kindle by downloading to the user’s computer, then transfer books via a USB cable. Americans living overseas say it works just fine.
But then again, just about any device that can receive software updates could have the ability to remove files. For example, the Sony readers are supposed to get an update to allow epub as standard format, phasing out the current one. They could, if they really wanted to, have the program to remove all books not purchased for their store or make changes to do the same thing every time the device is connected to the user’s library. I doubt very much they’ll do it, but it should be technically possible.
Thanks for the answer, good to know.
I don’t want software updates that I don’t choose to download and install. I don’t like the idea of anyone messing with my files without my prior knowledge and permission. At all.
Sony could do that and if they did they’d never have me as a customer. I’d be very angry if I had a reader and they started something like that.
There is a big difference between what can be done *technically* and what can be done in a real world context.
Theoretically, any device that uses DRM and provides firmware updates can be programmed to remove non-DRM content.
In practice, nobody will ever be stupid enough to do such a thing. Amazon’s misadventure is evidence enough; class-action lawsuits would be the least of their worries.
Generally speaking, hardware vendors don’t care what their gadgets are used for. It is only with the recent emergence of service-driven connected platforms like the iPhone/iPod, BD live Blu-Ray players, and gaming services like XBOX-live and PSN that terms of use have become enforcement issues on hardware devices. For example, Microsoft’s XBOX Live service can detect which consoles have been modified (presumably to facilitate cheating) and block them from the service. Theoretically, they *could* remotely kill the device but that is a can of worms no company wants to open. So, while illegally modified consoles can be used to play unlicensed (“pirated”) games, none of the console manufacturers dares go that far. It simply isn’t worth the price. N
Banning the console is considered penalty enough for violating the terms of use of the system/service.
Bottom line is that, in addition to reading the warranty fine print, buyers of connected devices should read and understand the Terms of Use; it is, in effect, a legally enforceable contract.
What Amazon is now, belatedly, doing is clarifying those terms as they relate to content delivery and management.
Reading through the terms, it is pretty clear that another mass-deletion incident is something that almost certainly won’t happen again. Still, the terms they describe are in line with the terms of use of other content-baed online services so odds are that Sony and anybody else following in their footsteps with connected readers will have to adopt similar terms.
It is just the nature of the game at this point.