Are Kindle Books For Rent, Sale, or Borrow?

As many have no doubt heard by now, Amazon recently deleted two books from customer’s Kindles. Here is what happened:

Somehow unauthorized copies of ANIMAL FARM and 1984 were put up for sale to Kindle customers. When Amazon discovered this, they went into the Kindles of those customers who purchased those books and deleted them, and then refunded the cost of the books ($.99) to them.

The books that were deleted is ironic, given the themes of censorship and lack of personal privacy. Amazon has since stated that they would not handle this kind of issue (unauthorized book sales) the same way in the future. But is that enough?

This is basically the equivalent of having purchased a book in a bookstore, taken it home, and then have a bookseller show up at your house and break in so they could take the book back and leave you a refund. Or, even more specifically, this is a company making a sale to a customer and then deciding afterwards that it was a loan instead and taking the items away without notice.

Yes, I do recognize that the items sold were technically “stolen goods” in that they were not authorized to be up for sale in the first place. However, since Amazon didn't know that at the time of the purchases and neither did the customers, sneaking into the Kindle's backdoor and taking the purchases away is not the best way to handle the situation.

It’s the lack of notice and the blatant use of Amazon’s wireless link to everyone's Kindles that makes this issue so sensitive. It touches on privacy issues, consumer rights, digital rights, and what role Amazon plays in the handling of book sales from third-parties.

Who is right here and who is wrong? Is there even a right or wrong? What do you think?

Nicole