A few weeks ago, we detailed how Amazon had deleted George Orwell’s classic 1984 from users’ Kindles after the company realized that the copies it sold were unauthorized.
Now Justin Gawronski is suing Amazon over the incident.
Mr. Gawronski has filed a class action lawsuit in Seattle against Amazon. Gawronski claims that the company illegally accessed his Amazon Kindle as he claims that the company’s terms of service agreement doesn’t allow it.
It seems that Justin was working on his summer school project and had kept notes about the book right on his Kindle. Once Amazon deleted the book, his research and notes were no longer attached to the original text, thereby rendering them useless.
So the issue at hand is not so much the deleted book, but instead, whether or not Amazon had the right to access his Kindle without Gawronski’s permission.
Here is what Amazon’s TOS states:
Amazon “grants you the non-exclusive right to keep a permanent copy of the applicable Digital Content and to view, use, and display such Digital Content an unlimited number of times.”
This case is comparable to Barnes and Nobles sneaking into your house, taking back that book you purchased yesterday, and leaving a check inside your door (although Amazon did not reimburse customers for the illegal copy of 1984).
The lawsuit also suggests that this incident constitutes computer fraud, as the Kindle is, in and of itself, a stand-alone device. Any outside intrusion without permission would be considered as such.
This will be a fun one to watch.
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- My Kindle ate my homework: lawsuit filed over 1984 deletion (arstechnica.com)
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- High schooler sues Amazon: The Kindle ate my homework (news.cnet.com)
- Amazon Gets Sued After 1984 Auto-Deletion Literally Eats Students Homework (inquisitr.com)
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