By Janette Heitic
A woman, known only by the name "Linn" had her Kindle account frozen and all of her data wiped clean for no apparent reason. First brought to the media's attention in October of 2012 by her friend and blogger Martin Koksrud Bekkelund, Linn received no concrete answers to why her account was mysteriously linked to "policy violations" and was informed that she was subsequently banned from Amazon for life. A return email informed her that the account would never be reopened and all future accounts she attempted to open would also be cancelled. When inquiring what policy she had unknowingly violated, she was told that no other information would be given to her and the decision was final.
Whether or not Linn actually did violate a policy or was involved in some sort of illegal data sharing, the idea that we actually have no control over our digital purchases is an interesting one. Most users are unaware that unlike purchasing a book in a store, one that you physically hold and turn the pages, a digital book purchase is actually only a purchase of the license to read it. That account that is controlled by Amazon can be frozen, cancelled, or wiped clean at any time due to the terms agreed upon by the end user when creating the account. Is buying the book in a store to put on your shelf better than the digital version? You can loan it to anyone, you will have it forever (unless your boyfriend spills a two liter of Pepsi on it, RIP The Da Vinci Code), and it cannot disappear randomly. Amazon later claimed that no matter what happens to your account you should always be able to access what you bought and advised anyone to contact customer service. Who proved massively unhelpful to Linn. Interesting thoughts when everything is so quickly converting to digital.
For the full article: http://www.theguardian.com/money/2012/oct/22/amazon-wipes-customers-kindle-deletes-account
For the original blog post: http://www.bekkelund.net/2012/10/22/outlawed-by-amazon-drm/
A woman, known only by the name "Linn" had her Kindle account frozen and all of her data wiped clean for no apparent reason. First brought to the media's attention in October of 2012 by her friend and blogger Martin Koksrud Bekkelund, Linn received no concrete answers to why her account was mysteriously linked to "policy violations" and was informed that she was subsequently banned from Amazon for life. A return email informed her that the account would never be reopened and all future accounts she attempted to open would also be cancelled. When inquiring what policy she had unknowingly violated, she was told that no other information would be given to her and the decision was final.
Whether or not Linn actually did violate a policy or was involved in some sort of illegal data sharing, the idea that we actually have no control over our digital purchases is an interesting one. Most users are unaware that unlike purchasing a book in a store, one that you physically hold and turn the pages, a digital book purchase is actually only a purchase of the license to read it. That account that is controlled by Amazon can be frozen, cancelled, or wiped clean at any time due to the terms agreed upon by the end user when creating the account. Is buying the book in a store to put on your shelf better than the digital version? You can loan it to anyone, you will have it forever (unless your boyfriend spills a two liter of Pepsi on it, RIP The Da Vinci Code), and it cannot disappear randomly. Amazon later claimed that no matter what happens to your account you should always be able to access what you bought and advised anyone to contact customer service. Who proved massively unhelpful to Linn. Interesting thoughts when everything is so quickly converting to digital.
For the full article: http://www.theguardian.com/money/2012/oct/22/amazon-wipes-customers-kindle-deletes-account
For the original blog post: http://www.bekkelund.net/2012/10/22/outlawed-by-amazon-drm/