[sf-lug] [Fwd: [FSF] Amazon, 1984, and what we're doing about it.]

[Rick Moen]

Quoting Tyler Trafford (ttrafford at gmail.com):

> While Amazon's actions here set a disturbing precedent, what happened  
> here is absolutely nothing like the comparison you are trying to make.
>
> The books from Amazon on the Kindle are never owned* by the consumer-  
> all that is bought is really just viewing rights.

Indeed the legal form of the transaction is set up so that the fine
print consistently taketh away what the marketing wording and
commonsense understanding (i.e., of the concept of "book") seems to
promise -- and perhaps the most important long-term lesson is that you
haven't actually bought anything that's truly yours in any lasting
or reliable sense, when you use this or other DRMed content.

In any event, whether retroactively and unilaterally un-selling a file
_is_, despite EULAs, compellingly like grabbing a book from someone's
living room may be a matter for the courts to decide.  If the copyright
barons were permitted to ban, for example, First Sale Doctrine rights 
just through EULA clauses, you can bet they would have.