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.

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.

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.