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This article contradicts itself in at least one significant way without providing a real explanation for the contradiction. Early on the article claims "Apple
by Digital-Citizen 8y ago
This article contradicts itself in at least one significant way without providing a real explanation for the contradiction.
Early on the article claims "Apple tells CNET that it won't delete your movies, either. At least, not ones you've downloaded.". But that's not a useful answer because it doesn't provide any real security about one's downloaded works.
Later CNET says "We can't be sure what will will happen if Disney -- or any other content provider -- "recalls" a digital purchase, as a publisher did with an ebook of George Orwell's 1984 on Amazon back in 2009.".
Keep in mind that Amazon made a similar pledge to what Apple reportedly told CNET. As Richard Stallman rightly points out in https://stallman.org/amazon.html https://stallman.org/amazon.html "In response to criticism, Amazon promised it would never do this again unless ordered to by the state, which I find not very comforting.". In other words, Amazon tacitly acknowledges it retains the power to do this again.
It's far more useful to examine the situation along the lines of which party retains what power over the user, or to look at how much freedom users have in the situation.
Therefore the real hinge here (which goes completely unaddressed in the CNET article) is software freedom (the freedom to run, inspect, share, and modify published computer software). If one uses free software to locate and read/play the work, then one has a chance to make sure that the free program won't betray their interests -- continuing to read/play the work at any time, for any reason, and do so without spying on or reporting the activity to others without explicit consent from the user.
But if one uses proprietary (nonfree, user-subjugating) software to access a downloaded copy of the work, one's access to the work is in jeopardy. One can't be certain that copy will be readable/playable through that proprietary software. Perhaps the proprietary software will delete that copy of the work (putting aside what's legal or, more importantly, ethical for the moment, it is worth noting that proprietors retain the technical power to do exactly this in most people's common use of media). Perhaps the proprietary software will report on the user's attempt to read/play the work thus notifying someone what's being read/played and from where.
- thaumasiotes 8y ago> In other words, Amazon tacitly acknowledges it retains the power to do this again. > But if one uses proprietary (nonfree, user-subjugating) software to access a downloaded copy of the work, one's access to the work is in jeopardy. One can't be certain that copy will be readable/playable through that proprietary software. Perhaps the proprietary software will delete that copy of the work Amazon only has the power to do this if you connect your Kindle to the internet. You can be sure that Amazon won't reach out to your Kindle to remove your books when it's impossible for them to do so.
- Buge 8y agoHow do you get new books if the Kindle never connects to the internet?
- lsc 8y agoyou can connect your kindle via usb and access it like a mass storage device to add new books, if you want. I've tried this on a ubuntu box and a fedora box, both default installs, and it just works with no extra drivers or anything. Of course, the whole point of a kindle is that it's super convenient to live in amazon's walled garden. If you don't want to live in amazon's walled garden... you probably are using another device anyhow.
- Buge 8y agoTheoretically if you got those new books from Amazon, they could contain a bit of configuration telling the Kindle to delete your old books.
- lsc 8y agosure, But so far, that's not really how amazon operates; I mean, when I hook up my kindle I can actually copy most (maybe all? I haven't checked exhaustively) of the books off the kindle on to my computer, and then restore them back to the kindle later; even if amazon does delete the books off my kindle, if I put any effort into backups (which I don't, 'cause amazon removing a book is excessively rare) - I would still have the files. (how useful those would be would depend on the level of DRM applied to it, which I understand is controlled by the publisher and varies by book.) That, and if you are giving up the convenience of the amazon ecosystem, why would you pay extra for books from amazon? The amazon kindle is one of the most expensive ways to get books, and the value proposition is that it's super easy and convenient, and sure, I'll pay extra for a super convenient book ecosystem. If you are willing to deal with inconveniences, there's much cheaper ways to do it. Hell, I think buying used physical copies and sending the book to the destructive book scan place is often cheaper than buying new (the only option) for the kindle.