In luminousness of the holiday time of year , what better time than now to prompt ourselves to give thanks for all that we have . Although , in the pillowcase of any digital goods you ’ve “ purchase , ” maybe do n’t add those to the leaning quite yet . Because remember : You do n’t actually own any of it .
https://gizmodo.com/you-dont-own-the-books-on-your-kindle-5954497
talk to BoingBoing , one Amazon user describes how he got his refresher course of action the hard manner :
Last December I bought some favorite Christmas specials for my kids with the idea they could watch them every year . Went tonight to watch one ( ‘ Disney Prep and Landing 2 ‘ if you ’re curious ) and it was gone from our library and could n’t be found on the site at all . Amazon has explain to me that Disney can pull their cognitive content at any metre and ‘ at this sentence they ’ve pulled that show for exclusivity on their own channel . ’ In other word of honor , Amazon sold me a Christmas special my kids ca n’t watch during the run up to Christmas . It ’ll be available in July though !
That ’s what happens with intellectual place , though . As Boing Boing point out , if the movie is by law Disney ’s lasting property , it stands to observe that you’re able to never actually own the digital goods you ’re streaming .
It ’s just the late in a string of monitor that you do n’t really own much of what you think you do . Last year we heard about Linn Jordet Nygaardm , whose news report — including 43 purchase books — Amazon suspended after decide it was “ directly link up to another . ” The only offered account about specific policies that were go against were vague and chilling :
Per our Conditions of Use which state in part : Amazon.co.ukand its affiliate set aside the right hand to refuse service , terminate account , remove or edit substance , or delete orders at their sole discretion .
Fortunately , Nygaard accept her story public and successfully get Amazon to rejuvenate her Kindle library . It did n’t have to , though . In 2011 , the Supreme Courtdeclined to hear arguments in Vernor v. Autodesk , a ruling that find you ca n’t actually own any of the software or apps you might buy online but ca n’t physically keep . When you purchase something from Amazon — or iTunes , or whomever — you’re not purchase the content itself ; you ’re purchase a license to apply it , one with terms that are rigorously order by whichever studio or transcription artist made it ( and by whichever company pass on it ) . This is why not only can you not resell a Kindle book , you could have it legally get rid of from your equipment at any time .
And while in this most recent typeface it ’s not technically Amazon ’s break , the oral communication on the site is inarguably misleading . That “ Buy Now ” button ? It should really read something more like “ License For As Long as We Say you’re able to Because You ’re fit to permit Us Take This Away Whenever We need Without Explanation Or Cause . ” But then that does n’t have quite the same ring to it . [ Boing Boing ]
Update 12:48pm :
We reach out out to Amazon for ratification on the policy and were provided the following statement in regards to the Boing Boing account :
What you are referring to was a impermanent issue with some of our catalog data and it has been fixed . client should never lose approach to their Amazon Instant Video purchase . If they have any issues accessing purchase videos , they should get hold of customer service .
We ’ve yet to hear any updates to this effect , but have reach out to Bill from the Boing Boing chronicle and will update as soon as we hear back . And even if this is merely a catalog error as Amazon claims , Amazon is n’t deny the fact that they do still retain the rightfulness to take forth accession to digital goods — because lawfully , doing so is still fully within their means .
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