Last Updated Oct 2, 2009 3:29 PM EDT
Amazon's own Orwellian moment last spring may never be repeated, thanks to a high school student in Michigan named James Gawronski.
According a document filed with the U.S. District Court in Seattle, first obtained by TechFlash, Gawronski sued Amazon in federal court after it deleted George Orwell's 1984 and Animal House from everyone's Kindles a few months back, claiming that his "copious notes" on 1984 were destroyed in the process.
Amazon and Gawronski (plus an additional plaintiff) have now settled the matter.
According to the court document, "Amazon will not remotely delete or modify" ebooks and other works from Kindles or similar devices "unless (a) the user consents to such deletion or
modification; (b) the user requests a refund for the Work or otherwise fails to pay for the Work
(e.g., if a credit or debit card issuer declines to remit payment); (c) a judicial or regulatory order
requires such deletion or modification; or (d) deletion or modification is reasonably necessary to
protect the consumer or the operation of a Device or network through which the Device
communicates (e.g., to remove harmful code embedded within a copy of a Work downloaded to
a Device)."
The court did not comment on the Orwellian irony in this matter, nor on the tendency of high school students to exaggerate the amount of homework they do. But the scope of this settlement does suggest that Amazon won't be going down the censorship path again anytime soon.
The settlement also avoids having the case expanded to a class-action status that might have further impaired Amazon's room to navigate in the uncharted waters of digital books, or at least could have potentially costed the company a lot more money to settle.
In this case, Amazon was hit with only a $150,000 fine.
The company's CEO, Jeff Bezos, had earlier denounced the deletions of Orwell's works as"stupid, thoughtless, and painfully out of line with our principles."
Related Posts:
Amazon as Censor
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According a document filed with the U.S. District Court in Seattle, first obtained by TechFlash, Gawronski sued Amazon in federal court after it deleted George Orwell's 1984 and Animal House from everyone's Kindles a few months back, claiming that his "copious notes" on 1984 were destroyed in the process.
Amazon and Gawronski (plus an additional plaintiff) have now settled the matter.
According to the court document, "Amazon will not remotely delete or modify" ebooks and other works from Kindles or similar devices "unless (a) the user consents to such deletion or
modification; (b) the user requests a refund for the Work or otherwise fails to pay for the Work
(e.g., if a credit or debit card issuer declines to remit payment); (c) a judicial or regulatory order
requires such deletion or modification; or (d) deletion or modification is reasonably necessary to
protect the consumer or the operation of a Device or network through which the Device
communicates (e.g., to remove harmful code embedded within a copy of a Work downloaded to
a Device)."
The court did not comment on the Orwellian irony in this matter, nor on the tendency of high school students to exaggerate the amount of homework they do. But the scope of this settlement does suggest that Amazon won't be going down the censorship path again anytime soon.
The settlement also avoids having the case expanded to a class-action status that might have further impaired Amazon's room to navigate in the uncharted waters of digital books, or at least could have potentially costed the company a lot more money to settle.
In this case, Amazon was hit with only a $150,000 fine.
The company's CEO, Jeff Bezos, had earlier denounced the deletions of Orwell's works as"stupid, thoughtless, and painfully out of line with our principles."
Related Posts:
Amazon as Censor
Amazon Restores Books To Quell Twitter Rage
