$150,000 In Amazon Fiasco

We have all heard of the fiasco Amazon caused when they took it upon themselves to reach into peoples Kindle and delete books. Well it has finally come around to bite them in the ass. When Amazon decided to wipe purchased copies of 1984 from peoples devices they also took a kids homework with them.

What did this kid do about it? Naturally what anyone who has grown up in the age of the internets, sue Amazon. Although Amazon has decided to settle out of court it ended up paying out $150,000 to make this go away, by far the most expensive homework assignment ever.

That’s not all. To top it all off and to really seal this deal as a win for the little guy, Amazon will not be allowed to do anything similar again. Here’s what the statement says:

Amazon will not remotely delete or modify such Works from Devices purchased and being used in the United States unless (a) the user consents to such deletion or modification; (b) the user requests a refund for the Work or otherwise fails to pay for the Work (e.g., if a credit or debit card issuer declines to remit payment); (c) a judicial or regulatory order requires such deletion or modification; or (d) deletion or modification is reasonably necessary to protect the consumer or the operation of a Device or network through which the Device communicates (e.g., to remove harmful code embedded within a copy of a Work downloaded to a Device).

Good on them. This should teach some of the other massive companies out there that they can’t just do what they want when they want.

Frank's the editor in chief of tech.nocr.at. He can be found surfing the internet and playing with gadgets. Follow him on twitter @franklinhares