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

[rana]

I too am EXTREMELY disappointed at Amazon ! I used to have very high opinion of them and tried to buy anything and everything from them whenever possible (not just books ... heck, I even bought my lawnmower from them !!!).

This is going to change all that ! I will try my best to give Amazon as little of my business anymore as possible

What puzzles me the most is how a smart company like Amazon made an UTTERLY STUPID BLUNDER like this


P.S. And Yes ! I most certainly will try to sway as many people as possible AWAY from getting a kindle. Fortunately for me, I am considered a "technology consultant" amongst pretty much all the people that know me from various spheres of life, and I do influence the "gadget buying" decision of a non-trivial number of people in and out of work on a regular basis. The Sony PRS-505 seems like the device that will get the most recommendation from me ... primarily due to an open format support (BIG thanks to Calibre !)

[sigma8]

This thread is now monstrous, I wish I had been able to keep up with it. I don't know if the MR wizards are still on top of it, but this story has been posted on Engadget, which conveniently showed a copy of the cease & desist letter.

It looks pretty generic, and it's not directly from Amazon. I wonder if the lawyers who sent it are legitimately on retention from Amazon, or if this is a case of an independent law firm trying to shop a case to Amazon.

Something similar happened in Germany with Adobe, where a law firm sent out a vicious C&D to someone who developed something that Adobe really had no interest in shutting down. They later apologized.

Of course, that could totally not be the case here. Maybe Jeff Bezos himself crafted this move. It might be (or might have been) worth checking out, though.

[BuddyBoy]

Originally Posted by Daithi

My guess is that most people use these tools in conjuction with the mobidrdrm tool to strip the DRM. This doesn't mean I think people are doing anything wrong. There are legitimate reasons for stripping the DRM that have nothing to do with piracy. Foremost, is that stipping the DRM allows us to transfer books we have purchased to other readers that may come out in the future. Who wants to be locked into the Kindle forever? Is this against the "law"? Yes, I'm pretty sure it is, but I try to live my life by what is right and wrong, not what is lawful and unlawful -- although I'm not admitting to anything.

Some proponents of DRM will point out that we're not purchasing a book to be used on a future reader, but leasing it to be used on our current reader.

True or not, having been burned by Amazon's early entre and abandonment of eBooks, and Rocket/RCA/Gemstar's vanishing act, and Microsoft's inability to deauthorize readers, unless I have no other option I will always purchase my books in an open or crackable format as a hedge against corporate planned obsolescence. I'm a re-reader and am tired of having to buy the same title over and over again for each platform when, in the end, I'm the only one reading each copy.

I guess my only exception would be especially ephemeral titles, which crop up now and then in a closed format for a price far less than an open format.

[exreader]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Jeff Bezos has been on TV somewhat plugging the K2. But what he purposely doesn't tell people is that once you get a Kindle, they own you.

My suggestion is that anyone who has a K2, return it since it's less then 30-days and include a letter telling Amazon EXACTLY why you are returning it. Let them know how disgusted you are at this DMCA notice. Maybe they will listen, but probably not. But it cannot hurt to try. Then go out and get a Sony or EZ Reader/BeBook or Gen3 and be happy Amazon no longer owns you.

If you want to sell me your like new working K2 for $100, offer open to say the first three people, I'm sure I can find homes for them. I'm just happy to help

Like the PS3, it's very easy to hurt the seller of the hardware. Buy the unit. Use the features, but never buy media from THEM. In the case of the PS3, buy used and/or just play blu-ray. No media profits? They'll notice.

One can spend the rest of one's life reading the free and/or non-DRM stuff.

As for Amazon's DRM, well, we signed a contract with them upon agreeing to the service/etc. They spell it out pretty clearly, in short "do not hack our stuff". So it goes. Perhaps they'll relax in a few years. Perhaps not. Plastic Logic is coming kids, and I know what I want to buy


exreader

[Moejoe]

Dear Jeff,

Uh-oh!

Yours
The Internets.

[Semblance]

No Kindle for me, then.

[exreader]

Originally Posted by rana

P.S. And Yes ! I most certainly will try to sway as many people as possible AWAY from getting a kindle. Fortunately for me, I am considered a "technology consultant" amongst pretty much all the people that know me from various spheres of life, and I do influence the "gadget buying" decision of a non-trivial number of people in and out of work on a regular basis. The Sony PRS-505 seems like the device that will get the most recommendation from me ... primarily due to an open format support (BIG thanks to Calibre !)

you should keep in mind that sony has had a long history of doing the wrong thing for the customer base, including software hacks/trojans/viruses and the WORST kind of DRM; they generally engage in region locking, denial of fair use of prior media, and a variety of other blunders that make amazon (at least right now), look like saints. MANY people i know will not buy any sony products, ever again (dvds, cds, games, computers, readers, anything).

then again, i know people that still won't deal with amazon due to the "one click" nonsense... they also won't shop at walmart, dominoes, or any one of 100s of vendors due to antics which they don't believe in, whether true or not.

i support your and everyone else's personal choice... just please make sure that if you encourage other's, the reasons for doing so are fully explained and understood.


exreader

[sigma8]

Originally Posted by exreader

you should keep in mind that sony has had a long history of doing the wrong thing for the customer base, including software hacks/trojans/viruses and the WORST kind of DRM; [snip]

then again, i know people that still won't deal with amazon due to the "one click" nonsense... they also won't shop at walmart, dominoes, or any one of 100s of vendors due to antics which they don't believe in, whether true or not.

As you point out, if we're to look at each company historically, they're probably all guilty of something undesirable. That leaves us with the option of judging individual products, in which case I think the Sony (or Cybook, or iRex, etc..) readers do come off a bit more saintly than the Kindle (currently). What's the point of historical judgement when it makes makes all your options equal?

[wayrad]

There's a very nice article at
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10196424-38.html
complete with relevant links.

[lilac_jive]

Originally Posted by wayrad

There's a very nice article at
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10196424-38.html
complete with relevant links.

Good article

[slayda]

Originally Posted by wayrad

There's a very nice article at
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10196424-38.html
complete with relevant links.

Not only a good article but includes a link to kindlepid.py.

[Ea]

Originally Posted by wayrad

There's a very nice article at
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10196424-38.html
complete with relevant links.

Great article! It sums it up well, and it's good he's linked it so well - makes it easy for anyone interested to do their own research.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by rhk

I've only had my Kindle2 for a week and a half now. I bought it so I could get books from the public library here. We're relocating to Europe this summer and wanted to continue to read the library books for free. I didn't intend to purchase many books (but for the ones I did, I planned to get them from Amazon). I prefer using the library - I have for years with the pbooks and wanted to continue with ebooks.

Now, I need to figure out if I should keep the Kindle2 and worry about what Amazon will do next or if I should return it and get a different reader that I can use in Europe (don't need the wireless or text options as far as I know - I'm happy to transfer using USB/computer) with the library books....

I was so excited to get the Kindle2........

My suggestion is to return the K2 and get a BeBook. You can read Mobipocket format library eBooks with it and a lot of other formats.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

My suggestion is to return the K2 and get a BeBook. You can read Mobipocket format library eBooks with it and a lot of other formats.

Are you sure that the BeBook can read Mobi library books, Jon? I was under the impression that it currently couldn't. The CyBook can do so.

[GeoffC]

Originally Posted by slayda

Not only a good article but includes a link to kindlepid.py.

tttccchhh!!!