Amazon Are Watching My Kindle? What?!

I read an article on Publishers Weekly (they are amazing!) about a Norwegian woman who had had her Amazon account closed and her entire Kindle library wiped by Amazon.

Having read a different article not long before about companies like Amazon being able to know what book you have purchased on your e-readers, I was shocked.* Though it is obvious that they would know what you have purchased, I still feel uncomfortable by the idea that they know how long it takes me to read one page, what page I stop at, what sentences I have highlighted, etc. but I digress.

I do not know if the user did anything wrong with her account or Kindle. It is my understanding that she doesn't know either.

The issue for a lot of people I mentioned this to was whether or not Amazon were within their rights to do this irrespective of whether or not the user had done something wrong. The short answer is yes.  This is because, and this is very clearly outlined in the article by Eileen Brown, when we all buy books on our devices, we do not actually own them.

Sticking with Amazon just to simplify all of this, they clearly state in their Terms and Conditions that all of the content making up the e-book still belongs to them under copyright laws. What does this mean then? Well, essentially, it means that we are all paying for the privilege to be able to read the e-book version of a book instead of physically owning a printed copy of it. Put simply, we e-reader owners are renters.

Though I was initially annoyed (it doesn't take much. I have a love-hate relationship with my Kindle, it's mostly love, but still gets on my nerves at times) I realised that this is the only way that publishers can protect themselves and their author's works.

The Digital Rights Management (DRM) protects the book from being illegally distributed to those who want the fun of reading their favourite books without paying. I understand that to fight against piracy, this rule needs to be in place. It is irritating considering there are already plenty of books, especially on Kindle, that are available for FREE anyway!

We must remember that e-books and readers are still only young, mere toddlers in the literary world, so a little patience will make the whole experience better. In any case, if, unlike me, you are not a poor graduate, you could always splash out and buy a physical copy of a book if owning it is important to you. If it's important enough for you to want to own it then why not? Before e-readers, unless you borrow from the library, we all paid for printed books anyway.

The fact that Amazon could wipe my own Kindle is a little disconcerting but here is the biggest lesson I learned from this article, that if I just keep my nose clean with them that my books will stay on my device with no problem. Indeed, this is a lesson we must all learn when it comes to e-readers and e-books.

It's a bit like dealing with a very strict parent. Be good and they won't take your toy away from you. Cross them and, well, don't be surprised if they punish you for it!

So, fellow e-reader users, be good and don't begrudge publishers and authors for wanting to protect their work. After all, without this protection, we avid readers wouldn't be able to enjoy them so quickly with just 'one-click'.

*This wasn't the article I originally read on this but it is much more informative than the other.