Amazon makes amends to Kindle owners for Orwell debacle

Back in July, Amazon caused quite an uproar when owners of its popular Kindle e-reader discovered that their copies of the George Orwell classics “Nineteen Eighty Four” and Animal Farm had disappeared. Amazon’s explanation was that they had discovered that the publisher offering the books for sale had no right to do so, meaning the copies already bought were illegal. The company panicked and deleted them from the Kindles they were stored on. The irony of such a thing happening to “Nineteen Eighty Four” was not lost on anyone as the net filled with posts from irate users. Amazon got the message loud and clear and posted this apology:

“This is an apology for the way we previously handled illegally sold copies of 1984 and other novels on Kindle. Our solution to the problem was stupid, thoughtless, and painfully out of line with our principles. It is wholly self-inflicted, and we deserve the criticism we’ve received. We will use the scar tissue from this painful mistake to help make better decisions going forward, ones that match our mission.”

Amazon also announced that those who had the book deleted from their Kindles will have the choice of either having the book redelivered free of charge, an $30 Amazon gift certificate or a check for the same amount.

Read [PCWorld]