The Kindle Own-goal

Back in February, though I was unaware of it at the time, Amazon changed the rules as regards backing up one’s Kindle ‘purchases’. Before the 26th of that month, it seems that you could keep a permanent copy of such ebooks by plugging your Kindle ereader into a computer running appropriate software. Amazon has now stopped that.

The new policy brought to general notice the fact that when you ‘buy’ an ebook at the Kindle store, you do not own it. You license it: what you are ‘buying’ is the licence, not the ebook.

Amazon’s terms give it complete control over the copy of the Kindle ebook on your device, at least when your device is connected to the internet. Amazon can alter and even delete it without your consent.

When changes are made to the master copy on its servers, those changes may be incorporated in the copy on your device; they will certainly be incorporated in any fresh copy of that title you download. Mostly such changes will be trivial and harmless, such as the correction of typos, but what of words and sentiments that suddenly become not just unfashionable but forbidden? The potential for bowdlerising ‘your’ ebook is there.

As for deletion, the infamous and ironic example is the mass deletion of Orwell’s Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-four. Amazon was successfully sued:

Shortly after the incident, Amazon apologized and said it wouldn’t happen again. People who had downloaded the e-books, who were already refunded after the deletion, were offered their e-books back along with their notes, or they could take a $30 gift certificate instead.

In the settlement, Amazon promises never to repeat its actions, under a few conditions. The retailer will still wipe an e-book if a court or regulatory body orders it, if doing so is necessary to protect consumers from malicious code, if the consumer agrees for any reason to have the e-book removed, or if the consumer fails to pay (for instance, if the credit card issuer doesn’t remit payment).

So, the answer is still “no,” you don’t own the digital books you download. Though I can understand the reasoning behind some of the exceptions Amazon lays out, Amazon still maintains control over your e-books. It is not the same as having a book all to yourself once you leave the bookstore.

Amazon is not alone in retaining control of downloaded ebooks. Any company, such as Apple or Kobo, that runs an ebook market and applies digital rights management (DRM) software to its ebooks is in much the same position.

The chorus of complaint that preceded and greeted Amazon’s decision in February has led to large numbers of people reconsidering their relationship with the Kindle store. Many are opting to ditch their Kindle, buy another ereader, and escape Amazon’s walled garden altogether. Others are vowing to keep their Kindles in airplane mode and sideload DRM-free ebooks downloaded from other sources.

The position of writers in all this is difficult. The Kindle store is far and away the biggest market for ebooks and no writer can afford to ignore it. Some writers sign up to an exclusivity deal which prevents them from selling copies elsewhere, even from their own websites; in return they receive extra love from the algorithms resulting in greater visibility in the Kindle store.

I have never agreed with that, feeling, first, that readers have a right to look elsewhere for my stuff and, secondly, that it is an unhealthy development and increases Amazon’s domination of the book market yet further. Books are a special sort of commodity and any restriction on their widest possible dispersal is illiberal and just plain wrong.

Despite my uncomfortable feelings about the Kindle store, I will go on offering my work there (unless Amazon decides to cancel my account). Not everybody will object to its terms of trade, and it provides me with a modest income. However, I would recommend getting my ebooks from Smashwords instead. The price is the same: currently a majestic 99¢ for every title. Smashwords does not use DRM. Once you have bought (yes, bought) an ebook there, it is yours to do with as you choose. You can even duplicate it for your friends if you are OK with ripping off authors!

If you own a Kindle there is no need to get rid of it. Just put it into airplane mode and leave it there, then sideload any new content. Make sure the ebook is in a Kindle format; the most compatible is mobi. If it is in epub format you will need to convert it, a trivial operation you can perform with calibre (cross-platform) or Amazon’s own Kindle Previewer (PC and Mac only).

If you wish to change the formatting of your ebook, make sure it’s in epub format and load it into Sigil. A brief introduction to that is here.

This may also be of interest to more technically-minded Kindle owners.