SPOTLIGHT:
CONTACT INFO:
LINKS:
MY LAST 3 TWEETS:
« eNATOA New Media Seminar: "Eight Reality Checkpoints for Using 'New Social Media'" | Main | Are Federal Acquisition Practices Accelerating the Move of Government Computing to the Cloud? »
Saturday
Jul182009

Amazon Kindle Orwell Deletion May Be Legal -- But It's Still Doubleplusungood

DateSaturday, July 18, 2009 at 02:58PM

By Dennis D. McDonald, Ph.D.

I know I know — the Orwell titles deleted from customer Kindles by Amazon were unauthorized copies. I’m still concerned. Why? Because it demonstrates how this technology can be applied and managed remotely without the owner’s involvement. Next time it will be a title embroiled in some kind of legal dispute, or a government agency will beg that a title be deleted for national security reasons.

Given what just happened I don’t see how you can say such scenarios are impossible.

Which disappoints me, since I want a Kindle, and I maintain a lot of my own personal data online “in the cloud.” I have to think about this more, now.

Be that as it may, one of the purposes of Digital Rights Management (DRM) technology is to allow just such a scenario — post sale control of licensed media. We just saw that DRM does in fact work as advertised.

This reminds me of arguments that swirled around the old “DIVX DVD” technology that Circuit City lost so much money on so many years ago; DIVX DVD playback could be deactivated remotely for non-payment, but Circuit City could never convince folks that mistaken de-activation was impossible.

I’ll still buy stuff from Amazon. The service is good. Hopefully, though, they won’t get their hands on eMusic.

Copyright (c) 2009 by Dennis D. McDonald

in , , , Print ArticlePrint Article

PrintView Printer Friendly Version

EmailEmail Article to Friend

Reader Comments (9)

I heard about this on Kim Commando this morning, its gonna be real hard to keep track of digital copies of books...they are gonna have to have some sort of digital sig. to keep track of them.
July 19, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterKnoxville Cabling
Wow! The irony. While I can understand why Amazon wanted to delete these items; the manner in which they did so leaves a very uncomfortable feeling.

I don't own a Kindle, and now I am questioning whether I want one or not.
July 20, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterChris R
Knoxville - I think they have the "digital signature" thing figured out - that's how they were able to reach out and delete files on so many machines.

Chris - my reaction too. I'd love one of the devices, but the remote "kill switch" has me worried.
July 20, 2009 | Registered CommenterDennis D. McDonald
Well, if they were looking for a way to drive people to piracy, they could hardly have found a better way. The irony of "1984" being censored is just ridiculous. I hope we see serious negative sales impact.
July 21, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterLoopy
Loopy - actually I don't think this will drive people to piracy -- instead it will drive people to the new Barnes & Noble ebook reader (or convince people to stick with paper!)
July 21, 2009 | Registered CommenterDennis D. McDonald
real books are the real deal. you pay one price for the book. you can pass along the book to a friend, and they can pass it to a friend and another friend and so on. one real book can be read by many, can be easily resold as a tangible item, or traded. ebooks and DRM... is locked to you and your device. you can't share it. you can't sell it. you can't trade it. other than the convenience of a digital copy, I see zero benefits of ebooks, especially since I like to hold a book and flip pages. and when DRM can remotely delete your books... seems like a no brainer to say no to this.
July 21, 2009 | Unregistered Commenterdavid
I'm trying to introduce a new word to the dictionary: De-kindle

De-kindle: The arrogant removal of what was thought, by the purchaser, to be a legitimate purchase by ‘Big Brother’ technology
July 22, 2009 | Unregistered Commenterodtaa
Paul - I'm on the fence about whether the word should be "kindled" or "de-kindled."
July 22, 2009 | Registered CommenterDennis D. McDonald
Ironically, to me at least, in reviewing the Kindle in two articles published in Interface, the e-journal of the Berglund Center for Internet Studies at Pacific University, I had used Orwell's writing as a sort of sustained metaphor for my own analysis of the Kindle. For the second piece, which speculated as to possible outcomes similar to the events referred to here, see: http://bcis.pacificu.edu/journal/2009/05/article.php?id=71

Jeffrey Barlow
July 27, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterJeffrey Barlow

PostPost a New Comment

Enter your information below to add a new comment.
Author Email (optional):
Author URL (optional):
Post:
 
All HTML will be escaped. Hyperlinks will be created for URLs automatically.
Alert
Comment Moderation Enabled
Thank you! Your comment will appear after it has been cleared by the website editor.

Notify me of follow-up comments via email.