Amazon CEO apologizes for deleting Orwell books

[RamboLiberal]

Source: Breitbart.com

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has issued an apology to Kindle customers after "1984" and other books by British novelist George Orwell were remotely deleted from their electronic readers.

"This is an apology for the way we previously handled illegally sold copies of '1984' and other novels on Kindle," the Amazon chief executive said in a post on Thursday on the Kindle Community discussion forum.

"Our 'solution' to the problem was stupid, thoughtless, and painfully out of line with our principles," Bezos wrote.

"It is wholly self-inflicted, and we deserve the criticism we've received," he said. "We will use the scar tissue from this painful mistake to help make better decisions going forward, ones that match our mission."

Read more: http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.e5c73c285871b4ae01c48f87ff89af64.3a1&show_article=1

[tblue37]

1. Hmmmm. I was thinking of buying a Kindle2 next year, but after

this incident I decided not to. Maybe I will after all.

[aquart]

2. I'd wait. Talk is so cheap.

[tblue37]

7. I might wait anyway, just because they tend to come up with

a better model of any new technology if you wait a bit.

The thing is, I have physical problems that make holding a book to read rather uncomfortable, but I also read incessantly. It would make my life easier if i had a Kindle.

(I am also book greedy, and my tiny apartment gets crowded with all the books--not to mention how much I love the idea of being able to get a book I want immediately instead of having to wait until I can get to the bookstore--ore have it shipped if it's not in stock.)

[aquart]

21. I have thirty or forty books on my iPaq.

Plus music, games, wifi, and a universal remote.

[MetaTrope]

3. Coverage of this story has been so clueless

Anybody spending half an hour looking at Kindle titles would realize that the egalitarian nature of the Amazon Marketplace lets any guy with a scanner, an OCR program and a few dog-eared paperbacks become a "publisher". Yes, Amazon should better control its content to make sure copyrights are honored. But when was the last time anyone got a refund after purchasing a pirated CD on ebay?

[kimmylavin]

4. Okay.

When was the last time eBay remotely accessed your CD player and pulled the pirated music from it?
THAT's the issue.

[MetaTrope]

9. Possession of stolen property?

Yes, a lot of people don't seem to care really.

[kimmylavin]

12. Okay, one more time.

No one is defending pirated anything.
The issue here, though, is that Amazon remotely accessed their Kindles and pulled content from them.
That has far too many frightening implications.

[RamboLiberal]

5. And how about grabbing this student's notes?

According to the NYTimes, some owners got to bear witness to the digital zap as they were in the midst of reading the book. Including one student who had been making notes on the work for a summer class -- since his annotations were part of the digital files they, too, vanished.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marc-hershon/my-kindle-ate-my-homework_b_239312.html

There's a new excuse - Amazon ate my homework!

[Libertas1776]

6. You know

you could simply bypass all this Amazon riff raff and avoid the kindle altogether and purchase...what was it called? That thing made out of dead trees bound together and had imprinted upon its many pages words...a book? And even better, I think they published 1984 in this novel format a few times :sarcasm:

I don't understand this incessant need to have each and every single thing in our lives digitized and whatnot, especially books. Until my dying day, I think I shall always prefer the book to the eBook. To me, it seems more egalitarian than a kindle will ever be. But then again, to each his own. Sorry for rambling.

[aquaman]

8. Yes....

I could not agree with you more!!

[du_grad]

11. I can see how it would be useful...

to certain people who travel a lot and don't want to lug a lot of books around. You can also download documents to Kindle and read them "on the plane" or wherever. My husband bought one because he just likes electronic stuff.

I, on the other hand, get all my books from the library. It is free. I listen to audio books from the library also. They are free. I buy books from the Friends of the Library sale for next to nothing. If a new book comes out I enter my request online at the library and I get an email when the book is available - usually pretty quickly. I just cannot justify the price, as I don't travel for my work. So far, the library does not carry Kindle books, although they do carry some other eBooks that are available for download. I also get books for next to nothing through www.paperbackswap.com (a wonderful book club - check it out).

Apparently the latest version is $50 cheaper than the one my husband bought a few months ago.

[TygrBright]

13. E-books have their uses.

My family pooled resources to get one for my sister for her birthday, as she is leaving for a Peace Corps posting in North Africa in a couple of months. She can only take a small amount of luggage, and although there are some of the world's oldest and most amazing libraries in the country she's posting to, none of them is likely to be anywhere near her.

But yeah, mostly I think nothing can replace the experience of a real, page-turning book.

judiciously,
Bright

[justiceischeap]

15. I use my iPhone as an eBook reader

There's an app called "Stanza" and it can read any eBook format (except PDFs...well, it can read a PDF but the text is all screwy). I travel to and from work on the DC Metro everyday. It's a lot easier to pull my iPhone from my pocket and read standing up then it is to hold onto the bar, hold a book, read and turn pages without dropping my book.

However, I'm not beyond taking an actual book with me either. So, for anyone who's considering a Kindle who also has an iPhone, save yourself the money.

[Ewellian]

16. You must have young eyes.

I couldn't read a novel on an iPhone.

[crikkett]

19. I use a netbook.

(using it now)

[Bluestar]

10. My opportunity to say "Amazon Sucks and so does Bezos!"

Got CHEATED out of $200 on a transaction 9 years ago and I'm still angry, won't use this useless piece of sh** called Amazon.com. No response to endless emails complaining, no live customer service agents, no address to write to the CEO, nothing, no recourse, nada. And they set it up this way on purpose just so they can ignore any complaint they choose. The worst customer service I've ever experienced. I hope this is the beginning of a huge PR nightmare and legal mess for Mr. Bezos.

[Milo_Bloom]

18. Amazon has customer service agents

You can still reach us the old-fashioned way but you'll miss out on all the benefits of our faster, easier Call Me service.
It's your choice. Click the Call Me button or you can reach us at 1-866-216-1072 to use our automated customer service system.
International customers can reach us at 1-206-266-2992.


If you click the "call me" button on their contact us page, you usually get a call back within seconds.

We ordered a Raz-Berry baby teether after being told by the company directly it was not made in china (amazon didn't tell us, the actual manufacturer told us it wasn't), we got it and after our nanny opened it, we found out it was made in china, we called Amazon and complained and they gave us a full refund and even paid for the return shipping.

[Bluestar]

23. I'm so happy for you and your experience, but there was NO SUCH

SYSTEM in place when I got cheated. And I'm still angry about it.

[Milo_Bloom]

24. 9 years ago?

It's time to let it go.

[ShamelessHussy]

14. I do appreceiate CEOs who admit mistakes.

Seems to be a very rare breed these days, and I really admire his efforts at opening up his network to make it more affordable for someone with a good idea to compete with the big boyz without needing the deep-pockets to get started (EC2, S3, EBS, etc.)

:toast:

[bobshin]

17. 2 little 2 late, the cat's out of the bag

Now it is widely known that Amazon has the ability to take back what you bought at any time for any reason. How is that a bargain at any price?

[Blandocyte]

20. Deleting 1984? Ironeeeeeey!

[razorman]

22. This situation is so Orwellian.

[wroberts189]

25. I am sorry that I broke into your house and stole what I sold you ..

You see I did not check to see if it was mine to sell to begin with so I had to do it. I left you a refund on your counter.

[riderinthestorm]

26. Barnes and Noble just put into place a much better e-reader system than Kindle/Amazon.

Just was in the store and you can download their system for free - watch it on anything: laptop, Iphone, Blackberry, desktop - whatever. Books are cheaper (top price is $9.99 compared to Amazon's $12.99) and you don't have to buy the Kindle device!

I downloaded it in seconds from bn.com and got 6 free books.