Mark Pesce suggested I let you know about an
Amazon.com DRM incident. I had contacted their
Customer Service to recover some Adobe eBooks
downloaded in 2005 that had been lost to
computer crashes that destroyed my drive and
backups. However, Amazon.com had pulled all
Adobe & Microsoft-related content from customer
Digital Lockers around August 2006, after it
made a deal with Mobipocket.
Amazon.com's Customer Service claimed its
current policy was that the DRM content was
only available for 30 days after purchase, and
that these "limitations" were to "protect the
copyrights of the authors and publishers
involved with the title."
I pointed out that:
- The 30-day policy wasn't in place when the
material was purchased, and that it had been
available until Amazon.com's Mobipocket deal.
- The Adobe & Microsoft DRM---very problematic
to use---had been designed to protect authors
& publisher rights.
- Amazon.com made the policy change without
informing its customers, who had used the DRM
scheme in the first place because of Amazon.com,
Adobe & Microsoft's reputations.
- The policy illustrates customers' concerns
that DRM purchases are no longer available if
problems occur.
Thought this might interest you. Thanks for
your great BoingBoing work and projects.
Regards,
Alex Burns
-- Alex Burns (alex@disinfo.com) Editor, Disinformation (www.disinfo.com) Senior Researcher, Smart Internet CRC (www.smartinternet.com.au
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