In a twist of irony that couldn’t have been better scripted by Hollywood, Amazon erased all copies of George Orwell’s 1984 and Animal Farm from Kindles in the middle of the night and then credited user accounts for the purchases.
The news spread like a virus online. The irony that one of the books involved is about totalitarian government control of society and the destruction of individual freedoms was not lost on anyone discussing the situation on blogs, Twitter and other news sites.
Confusion surrounds the source of the problem. Apparently the publisher of the books had never agreed to sell Kindle versions of the books. The Kindle versions were somehow added to Amazon by a third party without permission. The publisher then asked Amazon to remove the Kindle versions from the site, and therefore consumer Kindles. Amazon’s explanation, or lack thereof, left many Kindle owners frustrated and angry. Amazon could have handled the situation better, and would have averted most of the negative reaction from Kindle owners and consumers in general.
The bigger issue here is the damage done to consumer perceptions of digital ownership and the Kindle product itself.
When you buy a book at a local bookstore or from Amazon, you own the book. No one will come to your home and take the book in the middle of the night and slip a cash refund into your wallet.
But with the Kindle, and the complex end-user license agreement (EULA) accompanying the Kindle service, apparently ownership has a new definition in this digital age. Digital ownership on the Kindle is much closer to using a lending library than buying a book at your local bookstore.
I believe this controversy is a wake up call for most consumers. The controversy will stifle sales of the Kindle itself and, more broadly, will temper the ebooks movement.
I’d like to think that Eric Arthur Blair is having a good laugh about this mess.
