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Late fees

July 21st, 2009 at 10:33 pm

What is with me and books lately?

I found the book I had to sell and was able to ship it today. The book had been packed in the wrong box.

I had rented a few books from the library a few weeks ago. They were due yesterday. Guess where they are right now? On my couch. I'm going to the school tomorrow so I'll return them then. I don't see the point in going to school today when I'm going there tomorrow.

Here is an interesting article:

Text is How 2024 will be like Nineteen Eighty Four and Link is http://www.slate.com/id/2223214/pagenum/all/#p2
How 2024 will be like Nineteen Eighty Four

I don't have any of Orwell's books on my Kindle so I didn't have to deal with Amazon deleting them from my Kindle. But I'm a little torn on how I feel about this. On the one hand, it is pretty invasive for Amazon to be able to delete your books without any notice. On the other, if they were stolen property (illegally uploaded to Amazon's eBook store), you don't have the right to keep them. Amazon refunded everyone's money, which was the right thing to do.

I'm still deciding how I feel about this. I think Amazon could have handled the situation better for sure.

Posted in Misc., eBay Challenge | 4 Comments »

4 Responses to “Late fees”

  1. cptacek Says:
    July 21st, 2009 at 11:39 pm 1248219563
    1248219563

    I think that Amazon had no right to delete those books from anyone's Kindle. They messed up, they should pay a fine (or whatever) to the injured party. But it was not the person who bought the book in good faith's fault.

  2. cassandra Says:
    July 22nd, 2009 at 12:44 am 1248223491
    1248223491

    While it is Amazon's fault, I don't think anyone who bought the book (even in good faith) has the right to keep it. If you buy stolen property thinking it wasn't stolen, you aren't allowed to keep it if it is discovered to have been stolen. It will be confiscated. The problem though was that Amazon did not warn anyone that they were removing the book. I think that is the main issue here- that Amazon was pretty secretive about it.

    What would have been a better course for Amazon to take, would have been to send an e-mail to everyone who bought the book, strongly urging them to delete it from their Kindle. And when they do, refund their money.

  3. whitestripe Says:
    July 22nd, 2009 at 01:44 am 1248227054
    1248227054

    i think what people are scared about is the power that those companies seem to have, how it can be abused, and how long they are able to get away with it. there are MANY books, dvd's etc that are illegal now, but weren't when they were published (ken park, for instance was banned in australia, or the anarchist cookbook, or Hit Man). i don't think the government has the right to take those books away from people who bought them when they weren't illegal. stolen property is a different matter altogether, but it is good that this story came to light so that amazon can be monitored for these things.

    that's why i like to buy my books in paper! Big Grin

  4. cassandra Says:
    July 22nd, 2009 at 11:07 am 1248260820
    1248260820

    I agree whitestripe. Part of why I am torn about this issue is the potential abuse of power that companies like Amazon hold. It is scary to think that they can swoop in and forever delete a book from your device that you paid for.

    It is going to be interesting to see how this unfolds.

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