Amazon uses DMCA to restrict where you can buy e-books - Page 18

JoeD · 03-13-2009, 08:11 PM

Well the answer to this is simple. Stop recommending the kindle to friends/relatives. It's a closed system and if Amazon are going to go after legitimate customers who just want additional places to buy their books, then I see no reason to drive further business their way.

Recommend the Sony reader, BeBook or CyBook instead. The latter two both support mobi whilst the first supports ePub (which admittedly isn't all that common for purchases yet).

Daithi · 03-13-2009, 08:12 PM

Good news everyone! PC World has written an article concerning Amazon's stupidity in this matter.

PC World article

I also started a new thread in the Amazon forum to let the people reading there know about it

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=42079

Make sure you read the article and press the Digg button -- let's see if we can get this information national.

Ervserver · 03-13-2009, 08:24 PM

Just like the RIAA Amazon pulls a stupid move and brings more publicity to their issue than they originally had. When will attorneys figure that out

TadW · 03-13-2009, 08:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ervserver

Just like the RIAA Amazon pulls a stupid move and brings more publicity to their issue than they originally had. When will attorneys figure that out

They are just doing their job. Someone pays them to do it...

Alisa · 03-13-2009, 08:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jakeluck

However, it appears to state that it reserves the rights NOT to read your content, only the interaction data.

"Information Received. The Device Software will provide Amazon with data about your Device and its interaction with the Service (such as available memory, up-time, log files and signal strength) and information related to the content on your Device and your use of it (such as automatic bookmarking of the last page read and content deletions from the Device). Annotations, bookmarks, notes, highlights, or similar markings you make in your Device are backed up through the Service. Information we receive is subject to the Amazon.com Privacy Notice."

Would someone help to clarify?
(no kindle for me in the future, Sony, it is time to give us a PRS-1000 already)

I read that as their right to read what is on your device includes but is not limited to the examples they give. The term "such as" is not exclusionary. So if you take out the examples, you get:

"The Device Software will provide Amazon with data about your Device and its interaction with the Service and information related to the content on your Device and your use of it.

To me that means they are reserving the right to examine the content. I'm not a lawyer so I could be quite wrong.

Alisa · 03-13-2009, 08:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JoeD

Well the answer to this is simple. Stop recommending the kindle to friends/relatives. It's a closed system and if Amazon are going to go after legitimate customers who just want additional places to buy their books, then I see no reason to drive further business their way.

Recommend the Sony reader, BeBook or CyBook instead. The latter two both support mobi whilst the first supports ePub (which admittedly isn't all that common for purchases yet).

I think this has less to do with people buying books other places than people using the PID to strip DRM. I think there's a reason this started with the influx of iPhone users. Without this script, they can't get their PID and liberate their books to read on other devices and possibly share. If you're willing to strip DRM there's nothing at all stopping a Kindle owner from buying books elsewhere and reading them on the Kindle. You can use any PID registered with the store for that. Not just the Kindle's. I really doubt there are many Kindle owners that are buying books at other stores. The Kindle store is usually cheaper and generally more convenient.

TadW · 03-13-2009, 08:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alisa

I really doubt there are many Kindle owners that are buying books at other stores. The Kindle store is usually cheaper and generally more convenient.

You're probably right. But what about libraries lending DRM-protected e-books in .mobi format?

Alisa · 03-13-2009, 08:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TadW

You're probably right. But what about libraries lending DRM-protected e-books in .mobi format?

I doubt there are a lot of folks doing that, either. I think the average MobileReader is quite a bit more tech savvy and adventurous with this stuff than the average Kindle owner. You can still strip DRM and just delete the books when they're expired. Kindlefix lets you leave the DRM in tact but that's not the only way to get the content. These two scripts were being discussed in detail here for ages and Amazon didn't do a darned thing about it until the iPhone app came out.

Richard Marklew · 03-13-2009, 09:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Daithi

Good news everyone! PC World has written an article concerning Amazon's stupidity in this matter.

PC World article

I also started a new thread in the Amazon forum to let the people reading there know about it

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=42079

Make sure you read the article and press the Digg button -- let's see if we can get this information national.

The story has also been picked up by engadget http://www.engadget.com/2009/03/13/a...indle-content/

Richard

radiationman · 03-13-2009, 09:43 PM

I'm seriously considering returning my Kindle. I'm still within the 30 day window. I'll get a 505 instead.

catsittingstill · 03-13-2009, 09:53 PM

For what it's worth, The Register, Techspot, PCWorld, Engadget and TechDirt have all picked up the story.

AnemicOak · 03-13-2009, 09:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by radiationman

I'm seriously considering returning my Kindle. I'm still within the 30 day window. I'll get a 505 instead.

I'm probably going to do the same thing. Not just because of this (mine is having problems). I had a 505 and sold it, looks like I should have kept it.

Elsi · 03-13-2009, 10:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by radiationman

I'm seriously considering returning my Kindle. I'm still within the 30 day window. I'll get a 505 instead.

My sister and I share an Amazon account with our Kindles on it. She bought a Kindle for her daughter last summer and I'm buying one for my daughter this summer.

I'll admit to being angry with Amazon over this situation, but I'm still going to be a customer. At this point in time, I'm not interested in getting library books to read on my Kindle, so that's not an issue for me. I'm hoping that very soon Amazon will address the issue of library loaners on Kindles -- particularly since there are *SO MANY* Kindles out there and many people are very interested in borrowing eBooks through the library. And, after retirement, I may need to rely on the library more than purchasing books.

I'm buying current-release books from Amazon because the prices are so much lower. When I shop elsewhere, I only buy DRM-free books. And if a book is available elsewhere in a DRM-free format for a price close to that charged at Amazon, I'm going to buy it from the other store.

In the 13 months that I've owned a Kindle, we've "bought" 124 books from Amazon. I have to put "bought" into quotes because 66 of the books were purchased for $0.00 -- completely free. The most expensive book was $9.99, and 25 were under $5.00. I've read 50 of the books that I've downloaded from Amazon, so there are plenty more books available for me to read as time permits.

And, when Amazon made a mistake and put the $0.00 price on the wrong book in the Settling Accounts series by Harry Turtledove (which I quickly bought), they didn't come to me and say "oops, we shouldn't have allowed you to get that book for free". It's still on my download page. All-in-all, Amazon has been fair to me.

I don't know who it was at Amazon who turned the lawyers loose on MobileRead. I don't know their motivations, though I do have some suspicions. I think it was a very poor move on their part, particularly since the letter from Amazon arrived on the very same day that MobileRead was announcing the winner of a K2 in the first-ever MobileRead give-away. Amazon is getting some very bad press. They will lose some customers. It didn't have to be this way, either. I'll be interested in any response that Amazon provides to those reporters who have contacted them asking for a statement.

radiationman · 03-13-2009, 10:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Elsi

I'm hoping that very soon Amazon will address the issue of library loaners on Kindles -- particularly since there are *SO MANY* Kindles out there and many people are very interested in borrowing eBooks through the library. And, after retirement, I may need to rely on the library more than purchasing books.

Amazon's DMCA take down to Mobileread looks like Amazon addressing library loaners... With that letter Amazon is making it very clear - you can only get content on the Kindle unless it's either from (Kindle store) or through (e-mail of supported files for conversion) Amazon...

In all honesty, I didn't care about Amazon giving in to the Author's Guild over the text to speech this however is another story...

grisjuan · 03-13-2009, 11:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by radiationman

Amazon's DMCA take down to Mobileread looks like Amazon addressing library loaners

I asked Amazon about library books via email and their response was clear:

"Amazon Kindle only supports DRM protected files purchased from the Kindle store."

Before this take down order it seemed that Amazon would allow library books even though it was not officially supported. Now they seem to be actively trying to prevent it which is a change in behavior even if it is still technically within the bounds of their Kindle terms of service.

I asked Amazon to begin processing a return for my Kindle. I'm going tomorrow to the Sony store to look at the PRS-700 although I might also go reader-less for a few months and see how this all shakes out.

03-13-2009, 08:11 PM	#256
JoeD Guru Posts: 895 Karma: 4383958 Join Date: Nov 2007 Device: na	Well the answer to this is simple. Stop recommending the kindle to friends/relatives. It's a closed system and if Amazon are going to go after legitimate customers who just want additional places to buy their books, then I see no reason to drive further business their way. Recommend the Sony reader, BeBook or CyBook instead. The latter two both support mobi whilst the first supports ePub (which admittedly isn't all that common for purchases yet). Last edited by JoeD; 03-13-2009 at 08:14 PM.

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03-13-2009, 08:12 PM	#257
Daithi Publishers are evil! Posts: 2,418 Karma: 36205264 Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Rhode Island Device: Various Kindles	Good news everyone! PC World has written an article concerning Amazon's stupidity in this matter. PC World article I also started a new thread in the Amazon forum to let the people reading there know about it https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=42079 Make sure you read the article and press the Digg button -- let's see if we can get this information national.

03-13-2009, 08:24 PM	#258
Ervserver Wizard Posts: 2,624 Karma: 1008294 Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Iowa, USA Device: Nook Simple Touch	Just like the RIAA Amazon pulls a stupid move and brings more publicity to their issue than they originally had. When will attorneys figure that out

03-13-2009, 09:43 PM	#265
radiationman Connoisseur Posts: 83 Karma: 40 Join Date: Feb 2009 Device: Kindle 2	I'm seriously considering returning my Kindle. I'm still within the 30 day window. I'll get a 505 instead.

03-13-2009, 09:53 PM	#266
catsittingstill Guru Posts: 643 Karma: 551634 Join Date: Dec 2007 Device: Kindle 1.0.8, iPod Touch, Kindle Keyboard	For what it's worth, The Register, Techspot, PCWorld, Engadget and TechDirt have all picked up the story.