Amazon removed e-copies of George Orwell‘s “1984” and “Animal Farm” late last week from countless Kindle e-readers across the country late last week, the New York Times reports.
The digital copies of the books were added to the Kindle store by a company that did not have the rights to them, an Amazon spokesman told the newspaper.
“When we were notified of this by the rights holder, we removed the illegal copies from our systems and from customers’ devices, and refunded customers,” Drew Herdener told the Times.
Books purchased for the Kindle are transmitted electronically over a wireless network, the Times reports. Amazon can utilize that network to synchronize books between devices — and unbeknownst to some users — remove them.
Kindle customers have complained about losing electronic copies of other books as well, the Times reports — including of the popular Harry Potter series.
One Kindle user said Amazon took more than a book, they took his work:
Justin Gawronski, a 17-year-old from the Detroit area, was reading “1984” on his Kindle for a summer assignment and lost all his notes and annotations when the file vanished. “They didn’t just take a book back, they stole my work,” he said.
Amazon’s move highlights the dangers of relying on e-books (or e-newspapers.) Despite their convenience over their printed cousins, they carry very real risks — including the potential for remote meddling and censorship.
Amazon would not have the ability to remove physical copies of these Orwell classics from its customers’ homes, as it has these electronic books.
New guidelines need to be instituted immediately to prevent future frustrations and infringements of user rights.
In the meantime, potential Amazon customers should consider refusing to purchase new digital copies of materials for their Kindles — or else risk more serious threats to the freedoms they have taken for granted for so long.
