MobiPocket Shut Down!?

[andym]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

Ultimately, what any business sells is integrity: the customer buys from them because they are trusted. If something damages that trust, the business has problems. Incidents like the Mobipocket outage don't exactly build confidence in Amazon, and I'd be a bit surprised if there weren't folks at Amazon corporate asking "What happened, and how do we insure it doesn't happen again?"

I'm sure they will and their security will probably be all the stronger for it.

Persoanlly my party-pooper theory was that it took them so long to sort out because it happened right in the middle of the French holidays, all the key people were away, they had to be tracked down and get back to France etc etc etc.

I'm sure they willl learn from what happened.

[Bombast]

Because I only have the one E-book, and I was unable to open it as long as Mobipocket stayed shut.

So in the future, I won't be buying any e-books with DRM that can't be easily stripped away. I'll just buy paper. Heck, I like bookshelves. I now have my copy of Alms for Jihad being autographed by the authors - can't do that with an E-book.

And it's a strong reminder to me to be true to the vow I took when DeVillipen and Chirac were in charge - never ever buy anything French.

[wallcraft]

I was not previously aware that the Windows MobiPocket Reader "phoned home" every time an e-book was read. It is one thing for a server to be up often enough to allow you to re-register an e-book for a new device, but something else again for it to be up 24/7 so that old e-books can be constantly re-validated. Also, if MobiPocket closes its doors then existing e-books will still be readable on existing hand-held devices - but not on a Windows PC. Does this also mean that a Windows laptop can't read MobiPocket books when disconnected from the web (e.g. on a plane)?

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by wallcraft

I was not previously aware that the Windows MobiPocket Reader "phoned home" every time an e-book was read. It is one thing for a server to be up often enough to allow you to re-register an e-book for a new device, but something else again for it to be up 24/7 so that old e-books can be constantly re-validated. Also, if MobiPocket closes its doors then existing e-books will still be readable on existing hand-held devices - but not on a Windows PC. Does this also mean that a Windows laptop can't read MobiPocket books when disconnected from the web (e.g. on a plane)?

Try it for yourself! I've tried reading two different DRM-protected MobiPocket books on my notebook PC while disconnected from the network and it works fine for me. No problem opening and reading either.

[Andanzas]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I've tried reading two different DRM-protected MobiPocket books

So you now have two DRM-ed books! Which one is the second?

[HarryT]

A "special" from Fictionwise with 100% rebate (so effectively free): "Grave Consequences", by Dana Cameron. It's one of a series apparently featuring a crime-solving archeologist, which sounds fun (I'm a sucker for crime as well as SF). If I like it, I'll buy the rest of the series; if I don't, I haven't lost anything .

[cherdman]

Originally Posted by wallcraft

I was not previously aware that the Windows MobiPocket Reader "phoned home" every time an e-book was read...

Completely untrue.

[sammykrupa]

Just got this email from Mobipocket:

August 24, 2007

Dear Mobipocket Customer:

We are writing to let you know that we have reset your Mobipocket password – when you return to the Mobipocket site, you will need to select a new password for your account. Upon making this change, you’ll continue to have access to your previous Mobipocket purchases and downloads.

We reset your password because we recently learned of an attempt to gain access to a Mobipocket server. Files containing name, account name, password, address and e-mail address for some Mobipocket customers were kept on this server. Although we have no evidence that these files were accessed, we changed your password and are notifying you out of abundance of caution.

Please note that there is no need to immediately change your Mobipocket.com password. You will be prompted to change your password the next time you visit Mobipocket.com. If you do wish to change your password now please follow the instructions below:

1) Go to Mobipocket.com and click the “My bookshelf” link on the top of the page

2) Click the link that says “Forgot your password?”

3) Follow the instructions to set a new password for your account. Please choose a new password and do not use the same password you used with us previously.

If you have any questions, please contact us by sending an email to questions@mobipocket.com.

Sincerely,

Mobipocket.com

[DMcCunney]

I got that email a day or so ago. Mobipocket's site was down for over a week because of it. the issue has been heavily discussed elsewhere here.
______
Dennis

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

I got that email a day or so ago. Mobipocket's site was down for over a week because of it. the issue has been heavily discussed elsewhere here.
______
Dennis

Here is this thread. I've merged as we don't need to start another thread on MobiPocket's site issues.

[robinson]

One thing they could do is to offer a free ebook to everyone affected... that would be a good gesture!

Having amazon involved is key here... but note many companies, universities, etc. have hidden such information and downplayed the security breaches and even not alerted people in a timely fashion-- and that includes leading reputable firms! Companies act in their bureaucratic self-interest, cya first and foremost, then it's stockholders, and eventually customers. Economic history is replete with short-sighted companies.

Elsewhere (teleread), they are parsing the language of the communications from Mobipocket trying to figure out just what happened... there is a corporate speak in such matters that obfuscates rather than clarifies.

When I first got the e-mail, I started to respond and then thought it was a PHISHING effort!! Thank goodness for sites like this!

Hope they really haven't lost anyone's financial info!

[Bombast]

Originally Posted by cherdman

Completely untrue.

I don't know if it's true for any other Mobipocket book - but I assure you, it is true in the case of "Alms for Jihad."

Here are screen caps of what was happening





You'll note the status bar at the bottom, hung at 37% on "Validating your log in information"

As soon as MP came back up, I could open the book again.

Because the book has been withdrawn by the publisher, I also can't get any additional PID's assigned to the book, according to Kim at Books on Board.

(I've put the images on Flickr and they're not coming up for me, if there's anyplace here on the forum I can load them I'll be glad to do so.)

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Bombast

(I've put the images on Flickr and they're not coming up for me, if there's anyplace here on the forum I can load them I'll be glad to do so.)

Edit your message, and add the pictures as attachments - click the "Manage Attachments" button below the main message editor.

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by Bombast

(I've put the images on Flickr and they're not coming up for me, if there's anyplace here on the forum I can load them I'll be glad to do so.)

You tried to embed the wrong URL.

Upload images to Flickr. To post them here, click the uploaded image, click on "All Sizes", then click the size you wish to use. Scroll down. Beneath the selected image will be two boxes. Copy the URL specified in the second box, and paste it into your message. To have the picture appaear in the message, embed the URL in IMG tags:



To have a clickable link to the picture appear in the message, embed the URL in URL tags

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1319/...655e8e52_m.jpg

What you posted was the URL of the page containing the image, not the actual image file. The IMG tags pointed at nothing, so nothing displayed.
______
Dennis

[Bombast]

Too late to edit the previous post, but here we are