Amazon compensates for pulled Kindle e-book
updated 04:45 pm EDT, Fri September 4, 2009
Amazon offers $30 or re-delivery of novel
Amazon has made reparations for deleting classic classic Orwell novels Animal Farm and 1984 from users' Kindle readers by sending them a letter of apology and checks for $30 or an Amazon gift certificate in the same amount. Users also have the option of having 1984 re-delivered, complete with any annotations they have made to the text. There is no indication if the other pulled titles also fall under the same deal, but it is likely.
In the e-mailed apology, Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bozos wrote that the solution of pulling the illegally sold copies of the classics was "stupid, thoughtless and painfully out of line" with Amazon's principles.
The digital Orwell novels were deleted after publisher MobileReference backed out of offering digital versions of the books and pressured Amazon into removing the titles. The digital editions were apparently unofficial versions of work the publisher had rights to publish. Amazon then reimbursed affected owners of the e-book, and promised that a similar incident would not happen again. [via Gizmodo]
