So this is funny

[benlehman]

Apparently the Kindle does a thing with pirated PDFs where it makes them disappear and then refunds you your money.

Now, this isn't really a bad thing. If it were possible to make all trafficked stolen goods in the world disappear and be replaced by a pile of cash that was exactly equal to the purchase price, that'd absolutely be a good thing. But it has electronic freedom hobbyists, uh, acting like total ninnies. Doing things like posting long off-topic screeds to role-playing game sites.

I read this and I think about all the people who write about the death of newspapers with a certain amount of glee: yeah, well, there you go... It's a new electronic world out here. Bits are not like physical objects: there are new rules. Adapt or die. This goes for individuals as well as for corporations. Don't like it? You could always just buy a paper copy.

Comments

[yeloson.livejournal.com]

I'm wondering where all electronic freedom folks were a few months back when Amazon shunted LGBT or women's health books off their radar. Or continued issues with similar books getting availability on Kindle.

[benlehman.livejournal.com]

Slightly different iss, I think. What's with the continued availability problems?

[yeloson.livejournal.com]

There's a couple of authors whose books were being "unavailable" through Kindle, despite supposedly set up to be available through it. This was almost a year before the drama this year, and still hasn't been resolved.

(one author resubmitted her work except took out any reference to "lesbian" and it was up the next day...)

[misuba.livejournal.com]

I'm wondering where all electronic freedom folks were a few months back when Amazon shunted LGBT or women's health books off their radar.

Weren't they screaming like hell? That's how I remember it, but maybe that was just Twitter.

[yeloson.livejournal.com]

It was primarily LGBT activists - the electronic freedom folks were mostly absent.