The Amazon Kindle : As a RPG Resource

[tesral]

"A weapon once invented, will be used."

Just pointing out that what is legal and ethical has never bothered American business much at all. All they truly consider is "What can we get away with?"

[Farcaster]

Just pointing out that what is legal and ethical has never bothered American business much at all. All they truly consider is "What can we get away with?"

You are just stirring the pot, Tesral. There is no real risk that they are going to remove the books that people buy. As I said, the case with this one particular book was unique, and even in that case, they admitted that they took the wrong action and swore off repeating that mistake. And if it were to happen, I guarantee that there would be a class action lawsuit against Amazon that they would lose. If that isn't a deterrent for them, I don't know what would be.

[tesral]

You are just stirring the pot, Tesral. There is no real risk that they are going to remove the books that people buy. As I said, the case with this one particular book was unique, and even in that case, they admitted that they took the wrong action and swore off repeating that mistake. And if it were to happen, I guarantee that there would be a class action lawsuit against Amazon that they would lose. If that isn't a deterrent for them, I don't know what would be.

Let's say I'm slow to trust given the track record overall, not simply Amazon. I deal with Amazon all the time, for hard copy. It was a bone head move on their part and it pointed out what they could do. At least they had the good grace to admit it...when caught.

I'm not anti e-reader, or particularly anti Amazon. What I am is pro "I control things I buy". Show me a switch I can throw that locks Amazon out of my kindle, makes them get permission from me each and every time they want to fiddle with the contents of my reader, and I'm all smiles. Until then I'm only renting the contents at their discretion.

It doesn't even have to be Amazon officially. Recall last year the IT administrator who locked a good deal of San Fransisco out of the county network. Whether he acted maliciously is still a matter of trial.

All you need is one browned off administrator with a grudge against Amazon. Lots of Kindle owners could find their books have vanished. The records too for that matter. It is too clear a point of failure. Kindle owners need a root password. A lock on their bookshelf if you will. All the browned off Amazon employees in existence can not take the books sold in hard copy. All it takes is the right one in the worng place for the e-books.

Unlikely? Yes. Possible? Yes.

[Farcaster]

All you need is one browned off administrator with a grudge against Amazon. Lots of Kindle owners could find their books have vanished. The records too for that matter.

That is a rather unrealistic scenario that presumes Amazon doesn't even follow the basic practice of backing up their data. Nor does it take into account that they actually have a farm of redundant mySQL servers. One pissed off administrator might be able to create a temporary annoyance at best that could be quickly recovered.