My Kindle Ate My Homework: Amazon Pays For Deleting Student's eBook

Justin D. Gawronski, a high school senior from Michigan, has just made history, twice: not only did he settle a lawsuit that forced Amazon.com to clarify its eBook policies (a bit), he also pioneered a new excuse for slacker students everywhere: "My Kindle ate my homework."

After Amazon.com deleted a copy of George Orwell's "Nineteen Eighty-Four" from Gawronski's Kindle, the high-schooler brought a suit against the site, claiming that "when Amazon wirelessly deleted the book, it also got rid of notes he had taken on the device about the book, which he needed for a homework assignment," the Wall Street Journal reports.

According to the Wall Street Journal, as part of the settlement,

Amazon agreed that it would not "remotely delete or modify" digital books, magazines or newspapers on Kindles (with a few exceptions). Amazon also paid Gawronski's law firm $150,000, with the stipulation that the money be donated to charity.

An excerpt of the Amazon settlement can be downloaded from TechFlash.

When the story of the deleted book first came to light, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos made an online apology, saying the move was "stupid, thoughtless, and painfully out of line with our principles."

This is the second blow Amazon's received recently from students using the Kindle. A group of 50 students at Princeton University failed to take to the e-reader. The Telegraph quotes a Princeton student explaining his distaste for the device:

"I hate to sound like a Luddite," Aaron Horvath, who is studying civil society and public policy at Princeton, told the university paper, "[but] it's clunky, slow and a real pain to operate."

Comments

[DaithiO]

That's way too big brother for me. I wouldn't buy anything that a corporation could delete at will. I'll stick with books.

[ran6110]

They can delete at will but only if you leave whispernet on. Most owners I've talked to shut it off as much as possible to extend the battery life.

And even though Amazon wants you to think they will benevolently keep your ebooks safe on their server I don't trust them and keep local backups of all of my Kindle purchases.

Or more likely they will start charging you to download your ebooks after the first time.

The point being, the Kindle is a great device but you don't have to drink the kool-ade and trust Amazon to do the right thing...

[SpaghettyIrish]

A good friend of mine works in a book bindery, not a little boutique but a company that can process tens of thousands of copies a day. It's been slow for him lately with how the economy is running, but I can't help but think that Kindle and other e-book devices are putting him out of work at a job he's held since he was 18, so well off people can play with another gadget. There'll never be a book sale on the front lawn of people that move to Kindle, Libraries will never receive donations of gently-used books from Kindle. I usually like new tech, but I don't see this as an advancement at all.

[carlosville]

I disagree that they're clunky, slow, or difficult to operate. But I do often feel like a tool reading mine. Like I'm betraying the "book" people and stuff. More about that here, on my blog: http://blogs.journalism.cuny.edu/interactive2010/2009/10/02/on-shame-librarians/

[ikogsakanding]

i also use my phone to read ebooks but choose wisely to pic gadgets or devices that suites your needs... http://www.blogfornoob.com

[Coohyah]

I have had a Sony E-Redaer for the past 18 months and so far i am still enjoying it. Did a side by side comparison ti the Kindle and was not impressed with what the kindle had to offer. i can keep my books in my preffered format Adobe and have access to them without worrying if Sony will delete any of my content. So for now i am happy i am not wireless so no one can access my reader remotely. PS i can also read in the dark the backlight has two settings.
Kindle free.

[Inquisitr]

I would never buy a Kindle.

I was against it from the beginnign but this really hammered it home.

Buy the Sony E-book readers, they're better, they're cheaper, there's no insane DRM like that, and you can borrow free books fromt he library.

Sony > Kindle

[KarateKid]

The most disquieting aspect of Kindle is what Amazon did in deleting the book without any warning. I'd NEVER use anything or any company that does that. Isn't it ironic that it was with 1984? Big Brother is watching, uh, Kindle is watching.

[Aroddo]

I use my iphone for reading books.

Check out Stanza, the free book reading app:
http://www.lexcycle.com/

Greatest advantage: Accepts nearly ever format, even .doc or .rtf files as well as the standard ebook formats like .lit or .epub!

If the books you read don't need illustrations or a big screen, then the iphone will do just fine.

[KarateKid]

That's what I use, too.

[Nathan Ferguson]

1984... Ahhhh... my favorite novel

[IDIOTA]

I am still sour. If my notes were deleted, then I would be furious. I am still cold on Kindle, but I would definitely consider an alternative.

[ESerafina42]

Barnes & Noble has an e-reader that you can download for free and use on any one of several different devices. I order physical books from Amazon, but I am *completely* cold on anything that requires me to spend $200-300 just to read my $9.99 books AND can reach in and grab back anything they decide to. They haven't said they'll *never* do it again.

[IDIOTA]

Interesting...

[Mr-Mikey]

Amazon also paid Gawronski's law firm $150,000, with the stipulation that the money be donated to charity.

This I have issue with, I have issue with it greatly.

Sure we'll pay damages, but HAH we're not going to pay it to the kid.. Or the Lawyers, or the schools we caused trouble with. We're going to wave 150 grand in your face, smack you around with it and then make you throw it away... SUCK IT.

is All I got from this. I'm certainly glad I don't give my money to amazon. Paper Product > Kindle.

[gavrielle]

His homework wasn't worth $150,000, nor was there a loss of income to the student for time spent having to recreate it. The amount was purely punitive. So what if it went to charity? If it hadn't they'd be facing a whole slew of frivolous lawsuits.

[hopefull2008]

Thankfully there are choices. This is a pretty good buying guide.

http://www.crunchgear.com/2009/09/23/compare-amazon-sony-and-irex-wireless-e-book-readers-with-this-handy-chart/

[Paganus]

Yeah, like those things with real pages, real words, and real bindings, otherwise known as BOOKS.

[SweetPeaGean]

I have a question for all the people that do own a Kindle. How do you read in the dark. Do you need a book light? Does that work ok?

[ran6110]

Yup, you need a light. The contrast isn't too bad and you can make the font bigger. I regularly read mine in subdued living room light ( 1 75-watt bulb across the room) while my wife watched TV.

M-Edge makes a series of covers that have a light built in.

By not having a LCD display you get weeks of reading before you have to recharge (if you shut Whispernet off). If you leave whispernet on you'll still get a week or so of reading before a recharge is needed.

The one rarely mentioned feature (??) is amazon lets you download the first chapter of any book to checkout before you actually buy the book.

And newspapers, magazines and blogs have a two week trial before you are charged!

[KarateKid]

How long do you estimate before you get your investment back? $300 + $9.99 per book v.s. buying the print book.........seems like you'll never recoup your investment.

Another question: what happens if your Kindle goes on the fritz? Do they repair it, and if they do, how much would it cost if it's out of warranty?

[anoise]

I LOVE my Kindle and hope my kids can start getting textbooks on them when they go to college.

[kbkw54]

Kindle is great. Love it.