Monday, October 22, 2012

The worst of DRM

This is why, despite all the benefits of eReaders and other electronic devices, I prefer the owning the physical book. Nothing feels like paper to me, but paper.

This was reported on a few sites but ultimately comes via Martin Bekkelund's blog.
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A couple of days a go, my friend Linn sent me an e-mail, being very frustrated: Amazon just closed her account and wiped her Kindle. Without notice. Without explanation. This is DRM at it’s worst.

As a long-term writer about technology, DRM, privacy and user rights, this Amazon example shows the very worst of DRM. If the retailer, in this case Amazon, thinks you’re a crook, they will throw you out and take away everything that you bought. And if you disagree, you’re totally outlawed. Not only is your account closed, all your books that you paid for are gone. With DRM, you don’t buy and own books, you merely rent them for as long as the retailer finds it convenient.
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I am unsure (and actually doubt) if this will have any material affect on the business models of Amazon or other publishers in general, but I think it is worth noting nonetheless. At the least for your knowledge. 

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