10-23-2012, 12:55 AM | #46 |
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It is always amazing how quick people are to assume that it is Amazon's fault, given that we only have the customer's side of the story and not Amazon's. And we know and have experienced ourselves for many years that Amazon is a customer service oriented company and I have always been happy with them. By now information has already come to light that they did not delete anything.
I do think that Amazon should provide more information in such cases as to the exact nature of the abuses and which account was the linked account. And I don't like the tone of their boiler plate replies. Of course, everything may be very obvious to the person involved. Why are people so quick to take any such story from an unknown source unquestioningly at face value? Usually there is a lot more to it, and the person complaining has withheld a lot of relevant information. I know corporation bashing is "in" right now, but I do give credit where credit is due. Amazon is a fine company. Is it possible that they made a mistake? Of course. Can we be sure they did and acted unfairly? Absolutely not. And yes, always back up. Not backing up is gross negligence. Last edited by HansTWN; 10-23-2012 at 04:22 AM. |
10-23-2012, 02:57 AM | #47 |
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10-23-2012, 04:21 AM | #48 |
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10-23-2012, 04:50 AM | #49 | |
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After all, if even the music companies can change their policies, every other company can as well. Using calibre to disinfect DRM-infected e-books is not a solution but a dirty workaround. |
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10-23-2012, 05:06 AM | #50 |
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10-23-2012, 06:56 AM | #51 | |
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I do, but it is a dirty hack. As is getting standard Epubs on a Kindle.
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If there are really only DRM ebooks and no paper books available and they don't want to publish a DRM-free version, tell them that they just lost money. You know that "removing the DRM" is a violation of Amazon's Terms of Use and that "Your rights under this Agreement will automatically terminate if you fail to comply with any term of this Agreement" and "Amazon may immediately revoke your access to the Kindle Store and the Kindle Content without refund of any fees"? Last edited by bhaak; 10-23-2012 at 07:00 AM. |
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10-23-2012, 07:59 AM | #52 |
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About half way down in the comments to the blog referenced to in the first post in this thread, there is a link to a chat between a worried Amazon customer and the customer service:
https://p.6core.net/p/hx5voap6k84ndcrn Of course the transcription from the conversation can be tempered with or even totally fake, but it sounds as though Amazon denies that this ever happened |
10-23-2012, 09:56 AM | #53 | |
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Sorry, I won't stick it to myself and not read a book just because it has DRM . I agree that DRM is a sick dog that should be put to sleep. But this is not the way. I would not buy if I couldn't remove DRM, but since I can I grudgingly accept the status quo and move on. Should Amazon ever close my account and remove my access (the probability of that being only slightly greater than that I will be abducted by aliens) I will just take my business elsewhere and I have my backups. Sorry, I won't lose much sleep over this. My guess is that you tremble for weeks every time after you discovered you have been going 51 in a 50 mile speed limit zone? And Amazon will use such drastic measures only as a last resort. Anything else would be stupid, especially losing a customer like me. |
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10-23-2012, 10:58 AM | #54 |
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10-23-2012, 11:03 AM | #55 | |
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As for you wishing honest people getting hurt, what kind of low life person are you? |
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10-23-2012, 08:54 PM | #56 | |
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Yup I know that getting epubs on the kindle is a hack. I also know that removing DRM is technically a violation of the Terms of Agreement. I choose to go that route, because I want to pay for my books. I know several websites where you can get all the bestsellers for free, but I don't feel comfortable doing that. I also back up every amazon purchase and remove the DRM. If Amazon closed my account today, I would have lost nothing as all my purchased and free books are backed up in calibre. I would then take my purchases elsewhere. I've bought quite a few books on BandN, smashwords, kobo ect. I also like the fact that if I decide that I don't want to stick with Kindle then all my Kindle purchases wouldn't become obsolete should I decide on a Nook or Kobo ect. I would just convert and go. I too am not interested in paperbooks anymore. Sure I buy one here or there, but I live in an apartment and space is limited, plus I hate moving endless boxes of books. So yeah, while I am taking a risk removing the DRM, I think it is better than just going and getting the book for free elsewhere. Plus some of those Kindle ebook prices are crazy. 15 bucks for an ebook, no thanks, but if I did purchase one at that price, I better be able to do whatever I want with it! |
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10-23-2012, 09:32 PM | #57 |
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The chat transcript posted by Iznogood could be legit. It sounds perfectly reasonable to me that Amazon will only close your account if you sell or upload to a filesharing network/site a book you removed the DRM from, not for merely removing the DRM from one for personal use (which they don't and can't know you are doing anyway, unless they illegal spy your PC/Kindle).
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10-24-2012, 03:29 AM | #58 | ||
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So I think it's a valid guess that she was clueless and that is bad. I'd rather people wouldn't buying DRM ebooks but I can't force them not to but if they do they should be fully aware of what they are doing and what can happen. IMO Lynn didn't know and cases like this help to inform people. BTW, buying DRM-infected ebooks with terms of use that explicitly disallow removing the DRM and then removing the DRM isn't gaming the system? Quote:
DRM did, does and will hurt innocent and not so innocent people. That's a fact. The sooner the more people are aware of the consequences and the less surprising damage will happen in the future. |
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10-24-2012, 03:50 AM | #59 | ||
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I find it much more worrisome that other posters in this thread don't connect their device to WiFi because of what Amazon could possibly do with it. With their OWN device that they really OWN. Which Amazon doesn't even deny (whereas you don't own "your" ebooks, you only have a license) but still do things that could very well be illegal under many computer hacking and unauthorized access laws (IANAL but I don't think you can make any action legal with their license agreement). Lynn's case didn't look like a "last resort" action. More like a kafkaesque "collateral damage". Sorry, it's naive to think that a single customer (regardless of how much you're paying from them) is valuable to a multi-gazillion company. If you happen to somehow meet their "close this account" criteria, your account will be closed. It won't matter what strange and coincidental circumstances led them to think that you did. |
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10-24-2012, 04:10 AM | #60 | |
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The license says so --- but in most places it is actually legal to make a copy for personal backup. Some rights you cannot just sign away, DRM removal hasn't really been tested in court in most countries. So the most they can do is stop selling to me. As for the case in question --- we really know very little and I reserve judgement. I am not about to unilaterally declare Amazon at fault just because somebody I know zilch about publishes this accusation. |
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