4 ms·

Are there any instances from the closed e-book system (kindle, nook, etc..) where you paid for a book and the book was either updated to a revised version or ju

by t1234s 3mo ago

Are there any instances from the closed e-book system (kindle, nook, etc..) where you paid for a book and the book was either updated to a revised version or just removed from the device because of the content in the book?

jjice 3mo ago
Yep. The infamous case in my mind were the Roald Dahl updates. I believe there were a few more cases that got news coverage a few years back, but I don't recall, so don't quote me. https://goodereader.com/blog/electronic-readers/ronald-dahl-ebooks-being-updated-automatically-with-censored-versions https://goodereader.com/blog/electronic-readers/ronald-dahl-...
the_gastropod 3mo ago
There was that famous 2009 case of Amazon remote deleting George Orwell's 1984 and Animal Farm from Kindles.
simcop2387 3mo ago
Yep, first instance I know of was from back in 2009, https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2009/jul/17/amazon-kindle-1984 https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2009/jul/17/amazon-ki... and the kind of thing keeps happening over the years. It'll continue to happen since you aren't paying for a book. You're paying for a license to read the book for as long as the publisher/owner allows you to do so and they can revoke the permission at any time. I still find it hilariously ironic that the first instance that was widely reported (as far as I know) was it happening to 1984.
- recursivegirth 3mo ago
  Pay respect to Aaron Swartz, and go download whatever you need. I hear Anna's got an archive, or there is some Z Lib somewhere. If buying isn't ownership, downloading isn't stealing.
criddell 3mo ago
Are there any serious legislative efforts to fix the ebook market? I know getting rid of DRM entirely isn't likely to happen, but at this point I'd be happy with just vendor-neutral DRM.
- tren 3mo ago
  We're using LCP from EDRLab which is an open standard. Other vendors are starting to adopt it and I think Kobo intend to this year too. Basically the LCPL files you download can be opened on any compatible LCP reader.
  - criddell 3mo ago
    I keep hoping interoperability becomes something the European Commission decides to tackle. I can't see the US ever doing anything about this.
ebiester 3mo ago
It's fairly rare - like when 1984 was deleted from amazon when the seller didn't have the rights (and customer was refunded), but https://www.theguardian.com/money/2012/oct/22/amazon-wipes-customers-kindle-deletes-account https://www.theguardian.com/money/2012/oct/22/amazon-wipes-c... shows an example where someone's account was deleted and they lost all licenses of books they bought.
pnw 3mo ago
Kindle regularly removes sideloaded books if it decides you didn't purchase them from Amazon. Allegedly it's due to an incompatibility between the Kindle DRM and the way Calibre tricks the Kindle into displaying book covers for sideloaded files, but it's still annoying. The solution is to leave the device in airplane mode. https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=340936 https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=340936
- qingcharles 3mo ago
  It also strips off all the covers from your sideloaded books if you give it Internet access. Mine's had the radio off since I got it, for this reason.
WillAdams 3mo ago
Sort of. - I've often bought books with old/traditional covers which I like, but then a movie is made and the cover is "updated" to the movie tie-in version - I've found at least one typo in pretty much every e-book I've ever read, and usually report them --- they rarely get fixed, which annoys me to no end (esp. if it's a copy were there cover has changed as noted above) There's also the old news story about the kid who bought the pirated copy of _1984_ took class notes in it, and then had the copy deleted, which presumably is why when Microsoft took the ebook reader functionality out of Edge they issued checks to people who had used the note-taking functionality.

by t1234s 3mo ago

jjice 3mo ago

Yep. The infamous case in my mind were the Roald Dahl updates. I believe there were a few more cases that got news coverage a few years back, but I don't recall, so don't quote me. https://goodereader.com/blog/electronic-readers/ronald-dahl-ebooks-being-updated-automatically-with-censored-versions https://goodereader.com/blog/electronic-readers/ronald-dahl-...

the_gastropod 3mo ago

There was that famous 2009 case of Amazon remote deleting George Orwell's 1984 and Animal Farm from Kindles.

simcop2387 3mo ago

Yep, first instance I know of was from back in 2009, https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2009/jul/17/amazon-kindle-1984 https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2009/jul/17/amazon-ki... and the kind of thing keeps happening over the years. It'll continue to happen since you aren't paying for a book. You're paying for a license to read the book for as long as the publisher/owner allows you to do so and they can revoke the permission at any time. I still find it hilariously ironic that the first instance that was widely reported (as far as I know) was it happening to 1984.

recursivegirth 3mo ago
Pay respect to Aaron Swartz, and go download whatever you need. I hear Anna's got an archive, or there is some Z Lib somewhere. If buying isn't ownership, downloading isn't stealing.

criddell 3mo ago

Are there any serious legislative efforts to fix the ebook market? I know getting rid of DRM entirely isn't likely to happen, but at this point I'd be happy with just vendor-neutral DRM.

tren 3mo ago
We're using LCP from EDRLab which is an open standard. Other vendors are starting to adopt it and I think Kobo intend to this year too. Basically the LCPL files you download can be opened on any compatible LCP reader.
- criddell 3mo ago
  I keep hoping interoperability becomes something the European Commission decides to tackle. I can't see the US ever doing anything about this.

ebiester 3mo ago

It's fairly rare - like when 1984 was deleted from amazon when the seller didn't have the rights (and customer was refunded), but https://www.theguardian.com/money/2012/oct/22/amazon-wipes-customers-kindle-deletes-account https://www.theguardian.com/money/2012/oct/22/amazon-wipes-c... shows an example where someone's account was deleted and they lost all licenses of books they bought.

pnw 3mo ago

Kindle regularly removes sideloaded books if it decides you didn't purchase them from Amazon. Allegedly it's due to an incompatibility between the Kindle DRM and the way Calibre tricks the Kindle into displaying book covers for sideloaded files, but it's still annoying. The solution is to leave the device in airplane mode. https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=340936 https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=340936

qingcharles 3mo ago
It also strips off all the covers from your sideloaded books if you give it Internet access. Mine's had the radio off since I got it, for this reason.

WillAdams 3mo ago

Sort of. - I've often bought books with old/traditional covers which I like, but then a movie is made and the cover is "updated" to the movie tie-in version - I've found at least one typo in pretty much every e-book I've ever read, and usually report them --- they rarely get fixed, which annoys me to no end (esp. if it's a copy were there cover has changed as noted above) There's also the old news story about the kid who bought the pirated copy of _1984_ took class notes in it, and then had the copy deleted, which presumably is why when Microsoft took the ebook reader functionality out of Edge they issued checks to people who had used the note-taking functionality.