I was poking around on Slashdot and stumbled across this article regarding books legally purchased from Amazon onto Kindles had disappeared overnight.

In essence, the books 1984 and Animal Farm by George Orwell (both really good books and quite ironic given the nature of the article) had been purchased by owners of the Amazon Kindle and these books that they thought they "owned" were deleted overnight because the publisher in America changed their minds about an electronic edition and the users were refunded.

The original NY Times article quotes a reader "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"

In another note, any iTunes or Steam users here? What are we actually paying for these days?

I bet if you read the Terms of use policy it has an escape clause for Amazon. I guess it works like hiring an online movie. So wheres the line between buying the ebook and hiring the ebook.
What do the readers look like? interested to see one.

Blacky wrote:I bet if you read the Terms of use policy it has an escape clause for Amazon. I guess it works like hiring an online movie. So wheres the line between buying the ebook and hiring the ebook.
What do the readers look like? interested to see one.

"Use of Digital Content. Upon your payment of the applicable fees set by Amazon, Amazon grants you the non-exclusive right to keep a permanent copy of the applicable Digital Content and to view, use, and display such Digital Content an unlimited number of times, solely on the Device or as authorized by Amazon as part of the Service and solely for your personal, non-commercial use. Digital Content will be deemed licensed to you by Amazon under this Agreement unless otherwise expressly provided by Amazon."

A lovely contradiction between "permanent copy" and "licenced to you" wouldn't you say?

It's so tempting to pursue a career in copyright law, but I don't have the time to spare.

If I purchase a product (not rent) then it should remain in my possession regardless of the medium.

What does a Kindle look like?

This is bigger in the US then here in Aus isnt it? Dont think ive seen anyone reading one on the train! Well not yet anyways.

was only a matter of time before they apologised!
http://www.itnews.com.au/News/151077,am ... books.aspx

I've just read at ITNews that Amazon has actually settled for $170k AUD.

It always amazes me that such an overly litigious country focuses on awarding money to "victims" rather then preventing problems in the first place. Such odd copyright laws.