We simply must stop signing all power over to corporations in exchange for use of their toys. Until people start voting with their wallet, these types of things will only become more common.
Outlawed by Amazon DRM
211–220 of 494 posts
Re: Outlawed by Amazon DRM
#212Earlier quoted context omitted.
Indeed. But don't expect the sort of person whose battle cry w/re to RS is "But he's so unkempt!" to acknowledge that he tends to be correct.
Do you think that if stallman cut his hair and put on a suit his message would be better received?
No. Well dressed and much more groomed people has warned about obvious threat in similar areas, and has also been equally ignored.
Its the problem of the frog and the slowly heating pot. The changes a just slow enough that one can get used to the abuse. It will get worse. There is a ton of stuff companies could be doing to increase revenue by abusing their customers. When companies can view sold units as "theirs" to control, there is little limit.
Car manufacturers really are the next area where I expect to see some heavy changes really soon. Insurance companies really want data, and the manufactures can easy supply it like how fast someone drives, and where they go. In Sweden, this already almost happen in the form of an "voluntary" app. Driving in privacy mode will soon include a heavty cost depending on which insurance company you buy from. On the monopolistic side, there is nothing really stopping car manufacturers to put DRM into the gas tank, so to only "approved" gas sellers (those that pay the car manufacture) that has the right to sell gas. DRM is already in place for parts, so its not that a big step.
Re: Outlawed by Amazon DRM
#213Its getting to the point where I am seriously considering closing my Amazon account. I just don't like the way it does business any more. Can anyone recommend a good online bookseller in the UK? Is Waterstones any good? The Guardian is running a story [1] today about how Amazon forces publishers to cover the cost of 20% VAT (sales tax) on ebook sales, even though it only pays 3% to the Luxembourg government (where it…
They have certainly lost me as a potential Kindle user. I was considering buying myself a Kindle for Christmas, but that's not going to happen now. I thought Amazon could be trusted with my money, but it's clear that it's too risky. I wouldn't be surprised if someone higher up sees her issues and activates her account. But I can't trust my money to a company where you could lose access to books worth thousands if you…
> I was considering buying myself a Kindle for Christmas, but that's not going to happen now.
You can still treat yourself with one of the many currently sold ebook readers out there: http://www.the-ebook-reader.com/ebook-reader-comparison.html . There is a world out there of (electronic) books that is not controlled by Amazon.
Re: Outlawed by Amazon DRM
#214Am I the only one thinking there is more to this story than what has been leaked so far ? I don't usually step up to the defense of corporate America but in my dealings with Amazon, I haven't encountered anything but stellar customer service.
I hope Amazon releases more about the specifics that led them to take such a draconian action. This is either a terrible mistake that'll come with profuse apology & additional scrutiny at their (maybe trigger happy) fraud processes....or a last ditch action to deal with a serious violation. Either way, this will need to be explained, for now conclusions are being drawn on the basis of nothing but speculation.
Re: Outlawed by Amazon DRM
#215Tangentially related, I am getting very, very tired of "customer service" departments using phrases like: "While we are unable to provide detailed information on how we link related accounts, please know that we have reviewed your account on the basis of the information provided and regret to inform you that it will not be reopened." This happens more frequently: Google says this all the time, based on posts here; Am…
As soon as you give people a reason, they will argue with the specifics. The only way to get people to accept "no" and go away is to refuse to provide any additional information that they could take issue with.
Re: Outlawed by Amazon DRM
#216Earlier quoted context omitted.
The minute Amazon became willing to talk about this stuff they'd need a who bunch more people to start looking into each one in detail, review every claim and counter claim and so on, and they clearly don't think that that's a good use of their money. I for one would like them to start talking about this sort of thing, and review these cases more thoroughly. After all, people paid good money to them to read books. Bo…
I'm sure you would, but that's not much of a reason for Amazon to do so. It's far easier and cheaper for them to ignore most cases and instead wait for the few that blow up like this one and then look into them at that point. In those cases if they think that they're even remotely in the wrong I suspect that they'll reinstate the account, send their apologies, send the person in question a gift voucher and get on wit…
Well there's a cynical view of how to deal with the general public.
Re: Outlawed by Amazon DRM
#217Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Where's your evidence to the contrary? Oh, I don't know. Maybe when he visited the website of one of the largest retailers in the world, broke out his saved credit card like usual, and clicked the gigantic "Buy now with 1-Click" button? I would love for this to get tested in court. Has it? My understanding (I'm not a lawyer, but heard this from a lawyer) is that the purpose of, say, signing a release form before pl…
Well, good luck with the "1-click" button defense. heh. I agree that Amazon could be a LOT more open and clear about what it is that changes hands (ie some "rights") when we pay "applicable fees". But, it took me the best part of 10 seconds to find the license agreement. And, once found, couldn't be clearer.
It might vary by country and other factors... When logged in to Amazon.co.uk, with one-click turned on, there's no obvious link anywhere near where the product is presented that I can see. A search for "terms" also revealed nothing. A search for "license" revealed nothing. There's a small link saying "Conditions of Use & Sale" all the way at the bottom of the page.
Clicking on that links takes me to a page that provides a very long list of conditions broken out by use and sale. However, searching for "Kindle" or "book" to find out where they are covered, yield nothing. A customer who has been led by the product page to believe the "Buy" button means what it said, could very reasonably assume they were covered by the terms in the "Sale" section.
I think Amazon is threading a fine line here between having courts (at least in Europe) find that even if it might not constitute a sale, terms that deviate too much from the rights a customer would expect under the sale might be null and void, vs. alternatively find that the prominent language indicating a purchase might be illegally misleading advertising if such terms are allowed to stand...
Then again I might just be too hopeful. In the meantime I won't be "buying" any Kindle books.
Re: Outlawed by Amazon DRM
#218Tangentially related, I am getting very, very tired of "customer service" departments using phrases like: "While we are unable to provide detailed information on how we link related accounts, please know that we have reviewed your account on the basis of the information provided and regret to inform you that it will not be reopened." This happens more frequently: Google says this all the time, based on posts here; Am…
As soon as you give people a reason, they will argue with the specifics. The only way to get people to accept "no" and go away is to refuse to provide any additional information that they could take issue with.
That might work until the class action gets filed.
Re: Outlawed by Amazon DRM
#219Earlier quoted context omitted.
Unfortunately there are a number of circumstances where they are within their rights to withhold information. One of these situations is where the information relates to another individual. If information is withheld she my be able to infer that the offending account to which she is linked is held by someone else - though the identity of the account holder would understandably not be given.
This logic doesn't hold. Either Amazon is certain her account is operated by the same character guilty of whatever violations of policy behind the "linked account", in which case they're not disclosing any additional information, or they're not, in which case they know they might be punishing somebody innocent (the "Let God sort'em out" customer policy). In any case, it sounds straight out of Kafka: you're punished,…
And that's exactly what drives me bonkers about the current wave of "too big to care" web services, like GMail, Amazon or perhaps even Steam. Average consumer has absolutely no way of pushing back or even getting any information. It really feels like there needs to be some kind of law in place that requires some form of repayment if an account is closed. The problem there, I suppose, is potential for abuse -- buy a thousand books over a decade, then at the end "sacrifice" the account to get it closed, and try to get the money back.
Re: Outlawed by Amazon DRM
#220Interesting link to an Amazon.com Kindle Help discussion by the blog author: http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/forums/kindleqna/ref=...
Blimey, Amazon also has "fanboys". I suppose its logical.
Fanboys and logical are not two words that you often see together in an argument.