https://www.theregister.com/2023/12/22/opinion_column/
"What do Amazon, Sony, and Broadcom all have in common? Give up? Each, in their
own way, has made it clear that when you buy something from them, you don't
actually own it.
Going back to 2009, Amazon dropped
1984 and
Animal Farm from its Kindle
eReaders. You may have thought you owned copies of these classic George Orwell
books, but you were wrong. Amazon said they'd discovered they hadn't the right
to sell the books, so they deleted them from your eReaders. Eventually, Amazon
restored those books, but a precedent had been set. Amazon, not you, owns your
eBooks.
To quote from Amazon's copyright policy: "All content included in or made
available through Amazon Business, such as text, graphics, logos, button icons,
images, audio clips, digital downloads, data compilations, and software is the
property of Amazon or its content suppliers and protected by U.S. and
international copyright Laws. The compilation of all content included in or
made available through any Amazon Business Service is the exclusive property of
Amazon and protected by U.S. and international copyright Laws."
Funny, as I look at my large library of old-style books, I never had to worry
about that with them. They all belong to me. Eventually, they'll go to my
daughter's home or a library. My eBooks? They're off to the digital dustbin as
soon as I'm under the ground.
Much more recently, Sony Interactive Entertainment has announced that as of
December 31, 2023, users can no longer watch their previously purchased
Discovery video content on their PlayStations. I'd never bought copies of
Mythbusters,
Deadliest Catch,
How It’s Made or
My 600-Pound Life
myself, but someone did. If I were in their shoes, I'd be ticked."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
