
Microsoft announces will shut down eBook program, confiscate customer libraries - benologist
https://boingboing.net/2019/04/02/burning-libraries.html
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coverband
This is a very stupid move by Microsoft, at least they should have arranged a
customer/inventory handover with an alternate provider (like Amazon Kindle) to
minimize the inconvenience.

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bdcravens
Nice headline, leaving out this detail until the second paragraph:

"Customers will receive refunds."

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deogeo
Yet if the person who sold you a bicycle decided to take it back, it would
still be theft, even if they left in its place the exact cash amount you paid
for it.

What other items should corporations be able to confiscate (with a refund!)
without your consent? Everything they sold you? If so, what would you have
left?

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drewmol
Fraud is a better term than theft but this probably does not constitutes
fraud, that would depend on the terms of license and sale. MS is not
confiscating physical property just discontinuing a service that was hosting
digital books (I presume if they are _confiscating_ them) and unlocking DRM
for those _licensed_ books to be readable. I'm not advocating MS's play here I
just don't agree the term theft is accurate for this, just as an individual is
not stealing by reading/hearing/watching/witnessing copywrighted information
no matter anyone's terms.

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deogeo
Of course _legally_ it's not theft - all those lengthy licenses and
disclaimers drawn up by legal departments that you have to agree to for an
alarmingly large and growing list of goods and services make sure of that.

But legal or not, the effect is the same - they took your stuff. Unless we do
something, this, and the violations of other rights you signed away, will
become ever more commonplace. Right to a fair trial is already heavily
restricted by omnipresent mandatory arbitration agreements. The fact that it's
totally legal is of little comfort.

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drewmol
>the effect is the same - they took your stuff.

After I wrote my reply I reflected that in this case MS is actively, directly
depriving you of access to the _your_ content, a required component of theft,
but IMO if a refund is issued before access is revoked then the requirmemts
for theft still seem unmet. I also feel customers should be free to circumvent
DRM technologies... which would allow the market to help mitigate this type of
decieptful, manipulative licensing of content.

Seems pretty shitty to not refund the device purchases though.

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intopieces
The comparison to physical books is not apt. Physical books cannot be easily
and for almost no cost reproduced and distributed the way ebooks can.

In the end, did Nook Media have the only license to distribute some of these
books? If not, the customers actually come out _ahead_ here: they got to read
the books for free, as many times as they wanted, as their leisure, since
purchasing it.

They are now free to use that money to repurchase the same title at a
competitor, if they like. Or a different title.

Having said that, a better way to make this right for customers would be to
offer them either a refund OR a DRM-Free copy.

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yellowapple
I just wanna give a quick word of appreciation to the precision and tact of
that rather-well-deserved F-bomb. Discriminate, precise, no collateral damage.
Just a perfect emphasis upon the absurdity that is DRM.

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CM30
And this is why streaming services, digital 'media', etc are a terrible deal
for the customer. If the service goes down, you can basically lose everything,
and even a refund is unlikely in other cases.

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Crontab
I am going to disagree with you where pure steaming services like Netflix and
Spotify are concerned. Everyone understands they are just renting access. But
otherwise I totally agree with you.

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CM30
Of course, people usually understand they're renting stuff on services like
Netflix and Spotify.

Though even then, it still raises one issue. Namely, how it seems basically
every company now has realised that they get more money/power by endlessly
renting things rather than selling them to the customer. Feels like ownership
is being quickly killed off.

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sohkamyung
Off topic, but for those looking for DRM-free bookshops, check out this list
maintained by Libreture [1]

Personally, I never buy DRM encumbered books. I started buying from
Fictionwise, then moved on the Weightless Books. I also only buy non-DRM books
from Google Play.

[1]
[https://www.libreture.com/bookshops/](https://www.libreture.com/bookshops/)

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vegasdew
In principle it may be wrong, but in reality I'll like it as I don't re read
lots of books, so getting money back on all read books is nice.

