Amazon settles 1984 suit, sets limits on Kindle deletions

Posted by Nikos | Posted in General | Posted on 02-10-2009-05-2008

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companion photo for Amazon settles 1984 suit, sets limits on Kindle deletions

Amazon set off an online uproar when, in response to the discovery that it was vending unlicensed literary content, it summarily deleted copies of works by George Orwell from the Kindles of some users. Now, as part of the settlement from a lawsuit that ensued, the company has publicly clarified the policy that will govern any future deletions.

Amazon’s initial decision to delete the works after purchase outraged many Kindle owners, but the company quickly admitted that the decision was a mistake and said that, under similar circumstances, it would not take the same action. But that left some people wondering if there were situations where content might still be deleted.

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Roundup: Amazon’s apology, Yahoo/Microsoft search meeting, Google comics themes

Posted by Nikos | Posted in General | Posted on 24-07-2009-05-2008

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Yahoo’s board of directors is meeting tonight over Microsoft search partnershipThe Wall Street Journal reports that another meeting over a potential search advertising partnership happened today.

jeff-bezos-with-kindleAmazon CEO Jeff Bezos apologizes for erasing customers’ e-books — Last week, the company remotely deleted copies of George Orwell’s Animal Farm and 1984 from the Kindles of customers to whom Amazon had accidentally sold copies to which Amazon didn’t have e-rights. Bezos said at the start of the company’s earnings call, “Our solution to the problem was stupid, thoughtless, and painfully out of line with our principles.” TechCrunch has more context on the story.

The Associated Press creates a news registry to protect its content — The AP has struggled to find a way to prevent its oh-so-usable reporting from being run for free by websites. “The system will register key identifying information about each piece of content that AP distributes as well as the terms of use of that content, and employ a built-in beacon to notify AP about how the content is used,” says the AP’s report on itself.

Autodesk offers free training for unemployed potential designers — The Autodesk Assistance Program offers free training in Autodesks’s AutoCAD, Revit, AutoDesk Inventor Professional, and AutoCAD Civil 3D software, all of which are industry standard tools for 2D and 3D design professionals. There’s also a discount on these pricey programs for employers who hire people who’ve completed the . Autodesk’s website explains the details.

blogpostGoogle announces comics-based custom themes — Peanuts, Batman, Iron Man, Superman, Transmetropolitan, Garfield, Popeye, Renee French, Hellboy, Ziggy, TOKYOPOP, and another 40 themes for Google are now available for iGoogle members. The company licensed the images so that users can have them for free, but it’s a clever hook to get users to login as iGoogle users. Google search princess Marissa Mayer blogs about the new themes.

The New York Times swept Knight-Batten awards for innovations in journalism — The Gray Lady’s quaterly profits dropped 42 percent from last year, but the paper dominate this year’s prestigious Knight-Battens. A half dozen NYT newsroom and technology department projects, from the Times’ Document Reader for posting documents that go with a story, to Living with Less, a series of video and audio portraits of how the current recession has affected people, were deemed “excellent, innovative journalism, news and information” by the Knight Foundation.




Amazon CEO: Deleting Your Kindle Books Was “Stupid, Thoughtless”

Posted by Nikos | Posted in General, SEO, Twitter | Posted on 23-07-2009-05-2008

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bigbrotherIn response to Amazon’s controversial move last week to remove specific copies of George Orwell books from Kindles, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos apologized on the Kindle forums today, calling the decision “stupid, thoughtless, and painfully out of line with our principles”.

The move resulted in a small backlash last week as Kindle owners found the books missing from their devices and a refund in their accounts: the publisher, it transpired, did not have the rights to sell the books and had added them to the store using the Kindle’s self-publishing platform. But buyers were surprised to learn Amazon could simply take back their books, and Amazon later vowed not to do it again.

Today, CEO Jeff Bezos extended the apology to members of the Kindle forum:

This is an apology for the way we previously handled illegally sold copies of 1984 and other novels on Kindle. Our “solution” to the problem was stupid, thoughtless, and painfully out of line with our principles. It is wholly self-inflicted, and we deserve the criticism we’ve received. We will use the scar tissue from this painful mistake to help make better decisions going forward, ones that match our mission.

With deep apology to our customers,

Jeff Bezos
Founder & CEO
Amazon.com

Indeed, in a video announcing Amazon’s acquisition of shoe retailer Zappos this week, Bezos highlighted the company’s customer-centric approach. Perhaps the shoe marketer, which has already mastered Twitter, can help Amazon deal with social media flare-ups in the future.


Reviews: Twitter

Tags: amazon, Kindle



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