Remote Kill Flags Surface In Kindle

PL/SQL Guy writes "The Kindle has a number of 'remote kill' flags built in to the hardware that, among other things, allow the text-to-speech function to be disabled at any time on a book-by-book basis. 'Beginning yesterday, Random House Publishers began to disable text-to-speech remotely. The TTS function has apparently been remotely disabled in over 40 works so far.' But what no one at Amazon will discuss is what other flags are lurking in the Kindle format: is there a 'read only once' flag? A 'no turning the pages backwards' flag?"

Comments

I'm done with Amazon

[maynard]

I was a customer for over ten years. Spent well over ten thousand dollars there in books and other items. But for the last several years their customer support has declined, their partner businesses engage in numerous disreputable practices that mirror the abuses at ebay, their manipulation of book rankings on so-called adult material (gay), and they seem intent on monopolizing the epublishing trade. I closed my account and won't look back.

Yes, the Kindle-DX looks like a nice machine. But what one gives up in basic rights as a reader is more than enough to keep me buying used books printed on dead trees for some time. And I can always scan the books I buy to load on an ereader with less virulent DRM limitations and corporate controls. I own an iRex iLiad, that while not the best manufacturer, at least they offer a free Linux development environment to download and install. Users are hacking new software on that platform. Does anyone here expect Amazon to allow that? Not me.

BTW: closing my account with Amazon took several phone calls and numerous transfers from one department to the next. They don't like it when customers attempt to leave them and make the process as difficult as possible. Yet another reason to never give them my money again.

Re:I'm done with Amazon

[maynard]

To remove my credit card from their database. Also, to remove my customer record. And finally, to let them know just how displeased I am with their business practices.

Re:forget it

[jo42]

What you really want is a tablet PC running Linux if you are concerned about DRM. Any product where you don't have control over the operating system or environment will always be suspect to the whims of corporate lawyers.

Re:tags are in the books

[sciencewhiz]

Do you really think Amazon would be that stupid? Once again, a sensationalist story is posted without proper fact checking. From the Kindle DX Product Page

Kindle DX can read to you. With its Text-to-Speech feature, Kindle DX can read books, blogs, magazines, and newspapers out loud to you, unless the book's rights holder made the feature unavailable.

Was Stallman Right?

[Anonymous Coward]

http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html

Re:They asked for it

[Mprx]

Copyright is NOT there to protect the artist. Copyright is there to benefit the public by encouraging creation of new works.

Re:They asked for it

[D Ninja]

It might not have been cashed because he (she?/they?) may have a clause in his contract saying he cannot accept money directly for his music.

Yeah...really...

Amazon killed my book. Here's why...

[flogger]

The reason is straight forward: I asked for a refund. The book I ordered had no cover or table of contents/index. For a reference book, this is unacceptable. There was another version with chapters, etc. So I purchased the one I needed and then sent an email asking for a return.

The following was from the first paragraph of the email:

I've requested a refund for "NAME OF BOOK OMITTED". Issuing a refund also removes access to the file. If the item is still on your Kindle, please delete that copy. After the refund is issued, you will no longer be able to access it.

Well, I watched for it, and not only was access to the file removed, The file is no longer present.

Amazon has the Kill-switch ability to delete content. I am going to assume they have the ability to delete my personal content I add to through the USB.

Re:We need a "sensationalist" tag

[Danse]

It should be considered to be theft on a massive scale. What else would we call it when A deprives B of something that they paid for fair and square?

The problem with "buying" digital content these days is that the only way you can legally purchase it is by agreeing to 50 pages of legalese that basically strip you of any rights you could possibly have with regard to the information you're buying. Thus, you are giving them money without any assurance that you'll actually be able to make any use of what you're buying. Nice racket they've got going, huh?

Re:They asked for it

[JasterBobaMereel]

Session musicians - already paid
Studio Engineers - already paid
Studio rental - already paid
Production costs - already paid
Cover artist - already paid
Distribution costs - already paid

The only people who get paid copyright fees are the production company and the artist, I personally do not care about the production company (and if the music is more than a year old, they will have already been paid in full, or are incompetent) and if pay the artist anything even 1 cent it would be more than will ever see by me buying the music legitimately

Kindle Content Return Policy

[schmiddy]

From the Kindle Content Return Policy:

Any content you purchase for Kindle from the Amazon Kindle store is eligible for return and refund if we receive your request within 7 days of the date of purchase. Once a refund is issued, the item will be removed from Your Media Library and will no longer be readable on your Kindle.