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Outlawed by Amazon DRM

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Re: Outlawed by Amazon DRM

#451

Post by guard-of-terra »

mejari wrote: post #415
guard-of-terra wrote: post #397

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I enjoy how my comments get a few upvotes and then slowly sink. It is somehow nice to "suffer" for truth.

Maybe it's because you feel the need to use holier-than-thou language like "No food for your thick sarcasm." and "It is somehow nice to "suffer" for truth."

Well, my analogy is: I made a story where I come to a forest and pick berries and mushrooms, and then the next commenter comes and tells me that he's sure I also come to private toilets and steal the precious shit to eat. First, I am not stealing shit, and second, I don't usually eat shit. This is plainly offensive so I had to "brace myself".

Re: Outlawed by Amazon DRM

#452

Post by shinratdr »

pja wrote: post #230
jonno wrote: post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This sounds fraudulent.

You can be quite sure that the contract is not phrased in such a way that Amazon is required to pay 20% VAT on the ebooks in question to the UK government. Is it sleazy as all getout? Yup, absolutely: but it's not illegal. Companies pull this kind of bait and switch all the time when they think they can get away with it. Remember when Microsoft bought the original Internet Explorer codebase in return for the company…

> How they must have laughed about that one back at MS HQ...

Until they lost the lawsuit...

http://www.windowsitpro.com/article/news2/microsoft-and-spyg...

Re: Outlawed by Amazon DRM

#453

Post by justincormack »

engtech wrote: post #378
mightybyte wrote: post #304

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I completely agree with you, but the consumer here isn't without fault. By purchasing a Kindle and DRM'd books for it, you're agreeing to Amazon's policies. It's true that kindle books don't work like regular books, but being ignorant of that fact isn't an excuse. This is why I categorically refuse to pay a single penny for any digital media that has DRM attached to it and might prevent me from playing it at any time…

"It's true that kindle books don't work like regular books, but being ignorant of that fact isn't an excuse." Have you tried explaining to a non-technical person about remote wipes? I had a 20 minute discussion on this subject with a 58 year old friend of mine who has a doctorate, presents at conferences, etc. I spent the first 15 minutes convincing him that the ebook publish had the right to do a remote wipe. He rem…

This story has hit the mainstream press and I am sure it will be bad for business...

Re: Outlawed by Amazon DRM

#454

Post by abhaga »

cletus wrote: post #335

The fact that Amazon can do this is obviously scary, particularly for those with extensive Kindle libraries. Personally I love the idea of ebooks but the publishers are doing their best to kill this market (eg Surface Detail in paperback is $6, as an ebook its $10 WTF?). Now I can't speak to the truth of these claims. I have no inside knowledge but I will say this: be skeptical of such stories. I have seen other stor…

Here is a story from the other side. My wife writes and publishes business book summaries. She submitted about ten of those to be published on Kindle. Amazon happily published some of them in US market but decided that the content was "public domain" is other regions. Now I would have understood if they would have said "copyright violation" but "public domain"?

Our email correspondence with them was very similar to the one reported in the original post. They will repeat the original mail 2-3 times and will walk away after that leaving you with no answers.

Re: Outlawed by Amazon DRM

#455

Post by pleskon »

> The fact that Amazon can do this is

It is detailed in the contract few people bother to read prior to signing!

.

> The problem? Microsoft has your operating system,

> Google has your email, eBay has your stuff, PayPal

> has your money, Amazon has your books, Facebook has

> your social life, etc.

.

The problem is YOU GAVE each of those entities information out of hand with misplaced trust.

.

> We need to push for a universal option for arbitration

Push for less inane contractual terms first. Then change the cultural ethos of wrong-tolerance.

Re: Outlawed by Amazon DRM

#456

Post by msh »

Ntrails wrote: post #448
tomp wrote: post #384

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not a native English speaker, but isn't the proper term for that "rent"?

I buy an MSDN license. I buy a fishing license. The license is simply a fixed term item that you purchase.

Yes, but in this case they use the same term and button as when they sell a physical book so to me its deceptive that its not the same transaction.

Re: Outlawed by Amazon DRM

#457

Post by tsotha »

I would think this is actionable in the US. Her being in Norway complicates things.

I've spent more than $1k on ebooks for my kindle. If Amazon did this to me they'd definitely have a lawsuit on their hands. Not because I would win in court, but because I could use it as a springboard to do millions of dollars in damage to their reputation.

Re: Outlawed by Amazon DRM

#458

Post by jasomill »

Ntrails wrote: post #448
tomp wrote: post #384

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not a native English speaker, but isn't the proper term for that "rent"?

I buy an MSDN license. I buy a fishing license. The license is simply a fixed term item that you purchase.

Most MSDN subscriptions come with perpetual use licenses for the content acquired during the subscription term. More to the point, Microsoft does not reserve the right to terminate their licenses without cause, and in case of alleged cause, they have dispute resolution processes in place, up to and including binding arbitration. I'm not sure about their consumer cloud services, however.

Re: Outlawed by Amazon DRM

#460

Post by beedogs »

guard-of-terra wrote: post #450
beedogs wrote: post #404

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While I think your reasoning is noble, even commendable, I don't think it would hold up well in a civil case. For the record, I'm in favor of this sort of "cultural hedging" as well, but I don't think it's something that most people would even think to do.

Well, so sue me. I was just arguing with books seeding "not being really something for which any valid defense can usually be given" If I should have read it as "any valid defense IN COURT can be given", then again, so sue me. But it's pretty easy to defend the morality of this case.

I'm with you on the morality of it.
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