38 Replies to “He Who Controls The Present Controls The Past”

  3. Better for Amazon if they would enforce those property rights earlier in the process. Perhaps they will have to start checking to ensure their store doesn’t stock stolen goods before they sell them.

  4. Another reason to keep WisperNet turned off. Another reason why I always back-up books purchased from Amazon.
    Plus I take it that Amazon has the ability to delete books not purchased from them but loaded onto the Kindle via Calibre.

  5. I thought the book had been removed again, but as noted above this is old news. Still, it’s a good reminder of why you should not rely on e-books or “the cloud” for storing your data…

  7. Why couldn’t Amazon simply pay the owners of the copyright and leave the purchasers alone? Doesn’t that make more sense? Do the proper owners not want to sell copies?
    Now that I know this about Amazon, I will NEVER buy anything digital from them again. I have been a good customer of Amazon, but no more.

  8. Damn, so it is… Sorry.
    Look how faint the friggin date line is!
    Heh, turns out 2 kids sued and Amazon quickly settled.
    http://www.pcworld.com/article/172953/amazon_kindle_1984_lawsuit.html
    I’m still blown away that they can scrub readers after a purchase and restore them with the notes. Am I missing something? How can they restore the notes? Are they using a blocking code or when one writes notes and dirty limericks in the margins do they end up in a cloud forever attributed to you. (I need work on my rhyme scheme.)

  10. What to hear an irony? After posting this article on my Facebook page as a few of my friends do Kindle, I went back to mention even if it was from 2009 it is worth noting.
    Facebook is down “for maintenance” at 8:32am MST…can’t get in, can add to the post or edit it. Maybe I did a trigger word to set off alarms at Facebook ;-b
    “Facebook is down for required maintenance right now, but you should be able to get back on within a few minutes. In the meantime, read more about why you’re seeing this message. Thanks for your patience as we improve the site.”

  12. Never let the facts stand in the way of a good panic attack.
    See how easy it is to trip up your credibility?

  13. Heather Reisman of Chapters/Indigo is always censoring books. She took Mein Kampf off the shelves years ago ( I not defending the book) and wouldn’t let the Western Standard in after Ezra posted the Danish cartoons. She has done a lot of damage in the Canadian book industry.
    I happen to have a Kobo reader that hasn’t had anything scrubbed as of yet…. Heather knows best what’s good for me.

  14. “He Who Controls The Present Controls The Past”
    Which past, 1984 or 2009?

  15. Only the future is certain, the past is always changing. Solidarity joke about the Polish Communist government’s history revisionism.

  16. Perfect illustration of the reason to buy only dead-tree books. But wait, there’s more! They use no batteries! How cool is that?

  17. I`ve already posted this once, but I will try it again. My $2.00 copy that I bought at a ”SARCAN” garage sale is still OK. One must realize however that someone could erase your bank account as fast at Amazon took that book off it`s virtual shelf. Scary!!
    I agree with Ofay Cat.

  18. This happened once and never again. Amazon can’t come in and delete books from your computer hard drive, and Jeff Bezos isn’t Big Brother. Paper books are a luxury some of us can’t afford.

  19. And this is why I back up all my electronic crap to DVD all the time. Because Amazon and Apple and RIM and Google 100% control those devices. They control what’s on there. They control what -stays- on there. They can add or delete anything at any time.
    Unless I backed it up. To a DVD. Which is Read Only, my friends. If somebody wants to fry my backup, they have to physically come to Chez Phantom.
    This level of control over Android/Apple/Amazon etc. devices raises an additional worry. What if there was somebody “of interest” and the cops want them in jail for an extended stay? How easy would it be for k1dd1e pr0nz to show up on their phone/ebook?
    Real easy, yes? Easier than slipping it into your car, for sure.
    Interesting how high-handed Amazon is behaving too. Would it not have been easier and better (not to mention SMARTER) to send each customer a notice that their illegal copy of 1984 would be replaced with a -legal- copy at no cost? Maybe throw in another el-cheapo freebee to make the customer feel all happy? Naw, they went with Secret Deletion instead. Genius!
    The Aspergers case who I’m sure made the same argument I just made got trampled and probably fired, the Nice Hair weasel got a promotion. End result? Aspergers guy laughing his @$$ off in a new job. Go Aspergers Guy!

  20. The funniest thing is how almost everyone trusts almost everything. Kittens all of you.

  21. This happened 3-4 years ago, ONCE, and hasn’t been repeated for obvious reasons. The DX2 I’ve been using daily for 3 years has served me well and provides excellent value. WRT backup, plugging a kindle into any computer mounts it as a standard fat partition with which you can do as you please (burning to CDR, printing to dot matrix, punch cards, etc). If you’re feeling extra paranoid, turn whispernet off and never turn it on again, because you can load new books manually via USB.. so unless Jeff Bezos breaks into your house while you’re sleeping your book collection is safe.

  22. “…so unless Jeff Bezos breaks into your house while you’re sleeping your book collection is safe.”
    Max. Please.
    We already know the Authorities can turn on a cellphone remotely and use it as a listening device. Its been a feature of several FBI court cases.
    You think the “turn Whispernet off” button is sacrosanct? Its software. Its just a matter of flipping a bit from “0” to “1” in a file to turn it back on. That’s what happens when -you- turn it back on.
    If you want the wireless really off, you have to isolate the physical component on the motherboard by cutting the power traces or by removing the battery. Otherwise, “OFF!” is just a suggestion, not a switch.
    Apple “power” switches have been just a suggestion since the 1980’s. If you want your Mac to shut OFF, you have to pull the plug out of the wall. That’s been true since the original Macs. Major reason I have a Windoze box. Off switch really turns the d@mn thing OFF.
    This Kindle thing is the same “stupid users must be controlled” mentality, piled higher and deeper. If you want to control what your computer does, you have to have it off wireless and off the internet entirely. Modern computing, GPS and etc. is certainly handy and fun, but its far from 100% trustworthy.
    This incidentally is one reason why I keep a car around that was made before 1980. No digital electronics, all analog. Because you never know, do you?

  23. As the snark rolls in from the left I feel regret for offering this article, having overlooked the date stamp. To save face many blog owners would simply scrap the post or edit comments. One should notice Kate hasn’t done that. Productive comments have made lemonade. I’ll try to squeeze a bit more.
    (@set you free)I do detect that many, like myself, were unaware of these facts. Dated facts, are facts none the less. No Ting Wong there.
    (@Canadian Observer)As to which past, “1984” is a surprising non-sequitur.
    The book, published in 1949, became a part of the Canadian public domain in 2001. In the U.S. copyrights last up to 95 years, providing extensions are filed, giving Nineteen Eighty Four until 2044. Which brings us to this, less dated, reference.
    http://www.the-digital-reader.com/2013/01/20/amazon-now-forcing-canadian-kindle-owners-to-switch-to-canadian-kindle-store/#.UeWM5axnCzg
    This more recent setback for Amazon was caused by a fuller recognition of the very laws which prompted them to pull “1984” and “Animal Farm” from their shelves, and regrettably, our Kindles. The law: Copyright Term Extension Act, Sonny Bono Act, or the Mickey Mouse Protection Act, was enacted in 1998. (Interestingly, Sonny Bono died before this bill was ratified.)
    So, I’m left wondering, was the source of Amazon’s e-book Nineteen Eighty Four Canadian? And, if so, was it pulled from Canadian readers?

  24. Yep, they are dated facts.
    Ever heard the expression ‘a day late and a dollar short?’
    Usually, when somebody points a finger at somebody else, there’s three pointing back.
    Better luck next time 🙂

  25. We already know the Authorities can turn on a cellphone remotely and use it as a listening device.

    What, you haven’t wallpapered your house as a faraday cage? WAKE UP SHEEPLE!!!
    Apple products have always been a bit too far for me as well. I’m not yet willing to give up and go back to typewriters though.

  26. There’s a typo in your title. It should be “Honey, I Finished The Internet”
    All I see is a standard copyright issue with an amusingly ironic twist.

  28. There was a nanotech paint prototype a few years back that did that PLUS could be turned on or off. It’s moot till we can buy it cheaply though.

  30. Most of today’s posts were scheduled late last night, so there’d be content up while I was out all day making an actual goddamned living.
    So, some hours later, I am back at my unpaid duties scanning for problem comments to discover I’ve made an oversight in passing along a reader’s tip – along with a virtual cascade of snark and remarks about my “credibility”.
    To quote the Flea, from some years back – I am not a f*cking public utility. If an error as trivial as posting a stale news piece gets under your skin, you need to find another place to play.

  31. Truth, relevance and accuracy are never out of date.
    It’s an unbeatable triumverate.

  32. So what if it is old news … did any of you actually know about it before this post?
    A cautionary tale whether 6 years or 6 minutes old… and you should all understand that control over content can be exercised in many ways.

  33. Agree. It was a mere 4 years ago and it’s as relevant today as it was then. I did not know that and it was informative as well as food for thought. It’s all good and I for one appreciated it.

  34. I’m afraid I have to side with Amazon here. They made no secret about the fact that they have 24hr access to the readers.
    Caveat Emptor.
    Myself, I bought a jetbook that reads native pdf, txt, rtf, epub and jpg. No DRM at all.

  35. in a world of digital electronic information all information is temporary. unless of course it is information that the NSA or some other government agency wants to keep.

  36. max… one can buy a lot of books for the cost of a good computer, the maintenance and the internet fees.

  37. And one can use bit-torrent or project Gutenberg to get thousands of e-books for free.

Proudly powered by WordPress & Skyrocket Themes

MENU

Navigation