'Big Brother' Amazon Deleted Orwell E-Books, Some Say; Lawyer Threatens Suit
In what some consider an Orwellian remedy, Amazon eliminated from users’ Kindles last week electronic copies of the classic George Orwell books Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four after determining that that they were sold without proper authority.
Although the Internet retailer also refunded the 99-cent purchase price, the move elicited outrage about a perceived invasion of users’ e-book readers, according to the Telegraph. That Orwell’s books focus on the perils of totalitarianism, and that Amazon’s action was reminiscent of the all-seeing Big Brother running the show in Nineteen Eighty-Four, only made the situation, well, more Orwellian.
Amazon’s action also violated the terms of service for Kindle users, reports Computerworld. “It would never have crossed Amazon’s collective mind to grab a physical book from you if the company had shipped you one that it did not have the right to sell,” the article points out, arguing that this, effectively, is what happened to Kindle users.
An attorney who says he plans to file a class action suit on behalf of Kindle users has a similar take: “Imagine Amazon had shipped a book to someone’s house that it wasn’t supposed to ship. It can’t climb into the person’s window, take it back, and leave $1.57,” Jay Edelson of KamberEdelson tells the Online Media Daily. The law firm is known for its “digital trespassing” litigation, notes the National Law Journal in a 2007 profile.
Amazon itself admits that the Orwell e-book issue could have been handled better, the New York Times reported in an article last week.
“We are changing our systems so that in the future we will not remove books from customers’ devices in these circumstances,” spokesman Drew Herdener told the newspaper.
Additional coverage:
Computerworld: “Careful what you read, Big Bezos is watching”
