Talk about an ability to kindle up controversy.
A high school student has filed a lawsuit against Amazon.com for deleting an e-book he bought for the e-tailer’s Kindle device, according to a report by The Associated Press. The lawsuit seeks class-action status and unspecified damages for all buyers of e-books that Amazon deleted, plus a ban on future deletions.
Amazon pulled the George Orwell books Animal Farm and 1984 from its e-book inventory July 16 because the particular editions sold were basically bootlegs, and the works are not yet in the public domain here in the United States.
The lawsuit alleges that the student’s notes for a school assignment were “rendered useless” when the content disappeared.
In June, Arizona State University found itself on the receiving end of a lawsuit when advocates for the blind alleged discrimination because the school was offering textbooks in the Kindle format. While the device has the ability to read to the blind, its interface has no audio or Braille functionality to let them navigate the menus.
Imagine this: You go into your favorite bookstore and purchase a book. You take it home and begin reading it. That night the bookstore sneaks into your house, takes the book back and leaves the money you paid for the book in its place. That would be pretty messed up, right?
