http://www.engadget.com/2009/07/30/student-sues-amazon-after-kindle-eats-his-homework/ Engadget Comments for http://www.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.engadget.com/2009/07/30/student-sues-amazon-after-kindle-eats-his-homework/http://www.engadget.com/2009/07/30/student-sues-amazon-after-kindle-eats-his-homework/Jul 30th 2009 5:11PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/07/30/student-sues-amazon-after-kindle-eats-his-homework/http://www.engadget.com/2009/07/30/student-sues-amazon-after-kindle-eats-his-homework/Jul 30th 2009 5:17PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/07/30/student-sues-amazon-after-kindle-eats-his-homework/http://www.engadget.com/2009/07/30/student-sues-amazon-after-kindle-eats-his-homework/
This is all silly, though, because that book is good enough to read again and take new notes on. Buy a legitimate copy and re-read it.]]>Jul 30th 2009 6:59PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/07/30/student-sues-amazon-after-kindle-eats-his-homework/http://www.engadget.com/2009/07/30/student-sues-amazon-after-kindle-eats-his-homework/Jul 30th 2009 8:48PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/07/30/student-sues-amazon-after-kindle-eats-his-homework/http://www.engadget.com/2009/07/30/student-sues-amazon-after-kindle-eats-his-homework/
Obviously the kid will now have to go get a physical book and take notes with that, but what he was doing was pretty commendable. A nice blend of future tech with an old book (probably making those notes a hell of a lot more useful too). The whole problem is that he was probably on a deadline and didn't have the time to redo the work that was already done.]]>Jul 30th 2009 8:58PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/07/30/student-sues-amazon-after-kindle-eats-his-homework/http://www.engadget.com/2009/07/30/student-sues-amazon-after-kindle-eats-his-homework/
No, that's not obvious nor true… There are legit copies of the book on the Kindle store… The one that was pulled just happened to not be one of them…

Also, I agree with Capt. Obvious… I heard nothing about notes getting wiped… All the notes for all your books are stored in one massive plaintext file… Unless Amazon really did wipe the notes too, they -should- be there. It's very possible that they wiped them (not sure why they would have…) but I haven't heard anything like that from anyone else…]]>Jul 30th 2009 9:53PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/07/30/student-sues-amazon-after-kindle-eats-his-homework/http://www.engadget.com/2009/07/30/student-sues-amazon-after-kindle-eats-his-homework/Of course, even if his notes are intact, the references they include, as well as any highlights and annotations, are all for a version of the text that no longer exists, so even if he buys a new copy of 1984 and transfers the notes over, he'll still have to go through the whole damn thing again and move his annotations and highlights to the correct positions in the new text. Which he should not have to do.

Good on this kid for having the balls to take Amazon to task]]>Jul 31st 2009 3:40AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/07/30/student-sues-amazon-after-kindle-eats-his-homework/http://www.engadget.com/2009/07/30/student-sues-amazon-after-kindle-eats-his-homework/Aug 5th 2009 12:49AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/07/30/student-sues-amazon-after-kindle-eats-his-homework/http://www.engadget.com/2009/07/30/student-sues-amazon-after-kindle-eats-his-homework/certain electronic copies of George Orwell’s “1984” and “Animal Farm” from customers’
Kindles and iPhones, thereby sending these books down Orwell’s so-called “memory hole.” "

Didn't expect to see that in there. That's just harsh.
]]>Jul 30th 2009 5:14PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/07/30/student-sues-amazon-after-kindle-eats-his-homework/http://www.engadget.com/2009/07/30/student-sues-amazon-after-kindle-eats-his-homework/Jul 30th 2009 9:22PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/07/30/student-sues-amazon-after-kindle-eats-his-homework/http://www.engadget.com/2009/07/30/student-sues-amazon-after-kindle-eats-his-homework/Jul 30th 2009 5:16PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/07/30/student-sues-amazon-after-kindle-eats-his-homework/http://www.engadget.com/2009/07/30/student-sues-amazon-after-kindle-eats-his-homework/
A mild business loss is not enough for companies that do shady tactics. While I do use Amazon more often than not, making a boycott rather difficult in my opinion, if they get a legal judgement against them that causes them to go out of business, I would not lose sleep over it, though perhaps for the employees that lost their jobs over some stupid nonsense the company did.

This is the main reason why DRM needs to go. It gets me wondering, do other mediums have the same problem? Now that Apple is yanking items out of the App Store, would they start to yank Apps off your Pod all together?

While so far it seems no, since I do have a few games that been since yanked, but the fact companies are using this kill switch has me nervous.

Legislation needs to be written. There is more at stake here than things being deleted remotely. Once that can of worms gets opened, it is a very slipper slope.]]>Jul 31st 2009 1:38PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/07/30/student-sues-amazon-after-kindle-eats-his-homework/http://www.engadget.com/2009/07/30/student-sues-amazon-after-kindle-eats-his-homework/
The high school itself had been taking notes?]]>Jul 30th 2009 5:20PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/07/30/student-sues-amazon-after-kindle-eats-his-homework/http://www.engadget.com/2009/07/30/student-sues-amazon-after-kindle-eats-his-homework/
On a side note 1984 is one of the few books they made us read in high school English that I actually enjoyed (and thus actually read instead of just reading cliff notes). I'm a little behind on this but why did Amazon pull this book from their list? It's not exactly what I'd call "controversial subject matter"...I can come up with a lot worse than 1984... Also why in God's name any parent would buy their kids one of these...it's called Half-Priced Books.]]>Jul 30th 2009 5:22PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/07/30/student-sues-amazon-after-kindle-eats-his-homework/http://www.engadget.com/2009/07/30/student-sues-amazon-after-kindle-eats-his-homework/Jul 30th 2009 5:27PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/07/30/student-sues-amazon-after-kindle-eats-his-homework/http://www.engadget.com/2009/07/30/student-sues-amazon-after-kindle-eats-his-homework/Jul 30th 2009 5:28PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/07/30/student-sues-amazon-after-kindle-eats-his-homework/http://www.engadget.com/2009/07/30/student-sues-amazon-after-kindle-eats-his-homework/
I don't suppose you carry around every CD or Cassette Tape you own, do you?

Digital media is far more portable, obviously...in this case, you can "carry" more than one book with you, since the Kindle is technically the "iPod of books".]]>Jul 30th 2009 5:32PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/07/30/student-sues-amazon-after-kindle-eats-his-homework/http://www.engadget.com/2009/07/30/student-sues-amazon-after-kindle-eats-his-homework/
DO YOUR HOMEWORK!]]>Jul 31st 2009 11:05AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/07/30/student-sues-amazon-after-kindle-eats-his-homework/http://www.engadget.com/2009/07/30/student-sues-amazon-after-kindle-eats-his-homework/
Did you ever think that maybe he bought it himself. I am 15 and I bought my own. Or maybe his parents bought it for him because, maybe he reads a lot and his parents figured it would be easier than buying real books.]]>Jul 30th 2009 5:54PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/07/30/student-sues-amazon-after-kindle-eats-his-homework/http://www.engadget.com/2009/07/30/student-sues-amazon-after-kindle-eats-his-homework/Jul 30th 2009 6:13PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/07/30/student-sues-amazon-after-kindle-eats-his-homework/http://www.engadget.com/2009/07/30/student-sues-amazon-after-kindle-eats-his-homework/Jul 30th 2009 7:08PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/07/30/student-sues-amazon-after-kindle-eats-his-homework/http://www.engadget.com/2009/07/30/student-sues-amazon-after-kindle-eats-his-homework/The context doesn't matter. What Amazon did was sell you a "stolen" item and once they realized their mistake, broke into your house took back that item and paid you back. The fact that the item was stolen or that they paid you back doesn't make breaking into your house any legal. Only law enforcement authorities and courts have the right to do so and Amazon is neither.

What Amazon should have done is:
a. Stop Payment to the Original Seller.
b. Paid the rightful owners their due and royalties.
c. Taken legal action against the Original Seller for selling stolen goods.

Rather they decided to harass the customer.]]>Jul 30th 2009 7:12PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/07/30/student-sues-amazon-after-kindle-eats-his-homework/http://www.engadget.com/2009/07/30/student-sues-amazon-after-kindle-eats-his-homework/Jul 30th 2009 7:38PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/07/30/student-sues-amazon-after-kindle-eats-his-homework/http://www.engadget.com/2009/07/30/student-sues-amazon-after-kindle-eats-his-homework/Jul 30th 2009 5:36PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/07/30/student-sues-amazon-after-kindle-eats-his-homework/http://www.engadget.com/2009/07/30/student-sues-amazon-after-kindle-eats-his-homework/Jul 30th 2009 5:40PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/07/30/student-sues-amazon-after-kindle-eats-his-homework/http://www.engadget.com/2009/07/30/student-sues-amazon-after-kindle-eats-his-homework/
EVERYONE has lost some piece of vital information at one point. From a computer crash, a blackout, or some hardware that breaks on you when you least expect it. He should have been backing all of his stuff as soon as possible on some other media--if not ALREADY writing his report as he goes.

Worse is that this is only a highschool paper. how much could that be? 5 pages, double spaced? Peanuts!

Also, if he were really paying attention, he would already know what he's writing about and where to find it in the book as soon as he gets his new copy.]]>Jul 31st 2009 6:47AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/07/30/student-sues-amazon-after-kindle-eats-his-homework/http://www.engadget.com/2009/07/30/student-sues-amazon-after-kindle-eats-his-homework/Jul 31st 2009 10:03AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/07/30/student-sues-amazon-after-kindle-eats-his-homework/http://www.engadget.com/2009/07/30/student-sues-amazon-after-kindle-eats-his-homework/
Didn't think so.]]>Jul 30th 2009 5:25PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/07/30/student-sues-amazon-after-kindle-eats-his-homework/http://www.engadget.com/2009/07/30/student-sues-amazon-after-kindle-eats-his-homework/Jul 30th 2009 5:25PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/07/30/student-sues-amazon-after-kindle-eats-his-homework/http://www.engadget.com/2009/07/30/student-sues-amazon-after-kindle-eats-his-homework/Jul 30th 2009 5:25PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/07/30/student-sues-amazon-after-kindle-eats-his-homework/http://www.engadget.com/2009/07/30/student-sues-amazon-after-kindle-eats-his-homework/Jul 30th 2009 5:27PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/07/30/student-sues-amazon-after-kindle-eats-his-homework/http://www.engadget.com/2009/07/30/student-sues-amazon-after-kindle-eats-his-homework/
Unless there's already some existing regulation that is applicable in this instance, which may be (there are countless regulations), in which case taking it to court is reasonable.]]>Jul 30th 2009 7:44PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/07/30/student-sues-amazon-after-kindle-eats-his-homework/http://www.engadget.com/2009/07/30/student-sues-amazon-after-kindle-eats-his-homework/
On the other hand, this wasn't a malfunction of the digital storage device but a deliberate action of removing user's content from the device, because of a design error, and I am not talking about the book itself. Kindle should be designed such a way that it saves the notes you take on a separate file so deleting a book would not delete the notes. In the end notes are user's property, created by the user itself. From that angle, he/she can win the case easily (IANAL).]]>Jul 30th 2009 5:31PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/07/30/student-sues-amazon-after-kindle-eats-his-homework/http://www.engadget.com/2009/07/30/student-sues-amazon-after-kindle-eats-his-homework/Jul 30th 2009 7:01PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/07/30/student-sues-amazon-after-kindle-eats-his-homework/http://www.engadget.com/2009/07/30/student-sues-amazon-after-kindle-eats-his-homework/http://www.planetebook.com/free-ebooks.asp

Bang. Ok people - this is really going too far. Amazon is not the end-all be-all of book distribution. People need to quit being so litigious. Just because you had a thought to sue someone, doesn't mean it's the right thing to do.]]>Jul 30th 2009 5:32PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/07/30/student-sues-amazon-after-kindle-eats-his-homework/http://www.engadget.com/2009/07/30/student-sues-amazon-after-kindle-eats-his-homework/Jul 30th 2009 5:36PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/07/30/student-sues-amazon-after-kindle-eats-his-homework/http://www.engadget.com/2009/07/30/student-sues-amazon-after-kindle-eats-his-homework/Chico: "I should say not, he's a lawyer!"

----Marx Brothers- 'At the Circus']]>Jul 30th 2009 5:34PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/07/30/student-sues-amazon-after-kindle-eats-his-homework/http://www.engadget.com/2009/07/30/student-sues-amazon-after-kindle-eats-his-homework/
If this Jeff douche has access to people's Kindles and their ebooks that they've purchased, then users of Kindles should have access to their money in Amazon's bank account so that when consumers change their mind after purchasing an ebook, they can just freely retrieve their money whenever without leaving a trace of it whatsoever, not even the pennies and nickels.]]>Jul 30th 2009 5:34PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/07/30/student-sues-amazon-after-kindle-eats-his-homework/http://www.engadget.com/2009/07/30/student-sues-amazon-after-kindle-eats-his-homework/Jul 30th 2009 5:39PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/07/30/student-sues-amazon-after-kindle-eats-his-homework/http://www.engadget.com/2009/07/30/student-sues-amazon-after-kindle-eats-his-homework/Jul 30th 2009 5:40PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/07/30/student-sues-amazon-after-kindle-eats-his-homework/http://www.engadget.com/2009/07/30/student-sues-amazon-after-kindle-eats-his-homework/Jul 30th 2009 5:58PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/07/30/student-sues-amazon-after-kindle-eats-his-homework/http://www.engadget.com/2009/07/30/student-sues-amazon-after-kindle-eats-his-homework/Jul 30th 2009 5:35PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/07/30/student-sues-amazon-after-kindle-eats-his-homework/http://www.engadget.com/2009/07/30/student-sues-amazon-after-kindle-eats-his-homework/Jul 30th 2009 6:01PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/07/30/student-sues-amazon-after-kindle-eats-his-homework/http://www.engadget.com/2009/07/30/student-sues-amazon-after-kindle-eats-his-homework/Jul 30th 2009 5:37PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/07/30/student-sues-amazon-after-kindle-eats-his-homework/http://www.engadget.com/2009/07/30/student-sues-amazon-after-kindle-eats-his-homework/
That's basically my M.O. these days - I write/call once and state my grievance. If not appropriate steps are being taken, I escalate to the next level. I'll note that I never had to this with face-to-face dealings. Bring in a slightly off chicken - the respectable seller who lucked out once apologies profoundly and gets me another one, for example.

To be fair, I found Amazon's service also always quite exceptional. Even in rare cases (like when they sent the complete calvin and hobbes over the pond, inadequately packed) they managed to resolve the matter to my complete satisfaction.





]]>Jul 30th 2009 7:48PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/07/30/student-sues-amazon-after-kindle-eats-his-homework/http://www.engadget.com/2009/07/30/student-sues-amazon-after-kindle-eats-his-homework/Jul 30th 2009 5:38PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/07/30/student-sues-amazon-after-kindle-eats-his-homework/http://www.engadget.com/2009/07/30/student-sues-amazon-after-kindle-eats-his-homework/Jul 30th 2009 5:40PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/07/30/student-sues-amazon-after-kindle-eats-his-homework/http://www.engadget.com/2009/07/30/student-sues-amazon-after-kindle-eats-his-homework/
$50 says your first though wouldn't be "I should have used two baskets!"]]>Jul 30th 2009 5:40PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/07/30/student-sues-amazon-after-kindle-eats-his-homework/http://www.engadget.com/2009/07/30/student-sues-amazon-after-kindle-eats-his-homework/Jul 30th 2009 5:43PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/07/30/student-sues-amazon-after-kindle-eats-his-homework/http://www.engadget.com/2009/07/30/student-sues-amazon-after-kindle-eats-his-homework/
I hate to be the one to tell you all this but this story has one problem with it, his notes weren't deleted! If he plugs the Kindle into his computer he can grab all the notes from the file it is still stored on since all notes taken on the kindle get stored inside of a single text file. It just wont have the placement in the book nor can it be accessed through the kindle since notes can only be accessed inside the books on the device.]]>Jul 30th 2009 5:46PM