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Amazon is not doing anyone favors here.
Go back in time a little bit and drum up the horrible memory of Amazon remotely deleting Kindle versions of George Orwell novels from paid customer’s devices. It probably left a lot of you bald from head scratching puzzlement and others angered enough to be put in a straitjacket.
Or you just didn’t care.
If you fall into the latter category, we forgive you because of days like this.
Amazon apologized after the whole mishap and vowed never to do something like that again under those circumstances, until today when they went back on their word and decided that they would just forget about what they said before and leave the door open enough for them to remotely delete books again. Here’s what they said, from All Things Digital via Tech Flash:
Amazon will not remotely delete or modify such Works from Devices purchased and being used in the United States unless (a) the user consents to such deletion or modification; (b) the user requests a refund for the Work or otherwise fails to pay for the Work (e.g., if a credit or debit card issuer declines to remit payment); (c) a judicial or regulatory order requires such deletion or modification; or (d) deletion or modification is reasonably necessary to protect the consumer or the operation of a Device or network through which the Device communicates (e.g., to remove harmful code embedded within a copy of a Work downloaded to a Device).
Aren’t lawyers great?
Welcome back to square one ladies and gentlemen.
Comments
I believe you are overreacting. The situations where this could happen are now:
(a) Amazon asks (or you do) and you OK it.
(b) You want to return it or refuse to pay (you shouldn't be able to steal it).
(c) The law demands it, a standard disclaimer.
(d) Some piece of software/content is destructive and it is in everybody's best interest to clean up the mess.
Only the last one, (d), appears to be something that could happen without your involvement or triggered by your delinquency, but that's it. If, somehow, some destructive code gets loaded into your device Amazon reserves the right to clean it off. I suppose you could argue that you want this virus/spybot/worm/malware on your machine, but I don't know why you would.
Finally, Amazon certainly doesn't want a repeat of the PR nightmare they had with 1984 so they are unlikely to do ANYTHING of this sort unless it is imperative. So, I believe your fears are unfounded and poor reason to buy, or not buy, a device like the Kindle.
'Course, has anyone checked the user agreement to see if you have pre-approved deletions at Amazon's discretion?
...I'm with you Scott on this. The language is mostly standard and not alarm-worthy with the exception of D.
Consider the relationship we have with our electronic devices that we BUY.
If Dell or Microsoft proposed to systematically delete software from our computers after we'd completed the purchase, we might have a problem with that. Even for those of us who don't care about the details, it's appropriate to request the consumer's oversight about operations conducted on a product that they now own.
The tricky part is that "necessary to protect the consumer" is not a deterministic state. I may believe that consumers are served by not reading the Unabomber's manifesto, but others might find it highly instructive or entertaining.
What I (and other consumers) want is for companies to sell us their stuff, and then leave us alone with it to use it how we choose!
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