From time to time the subject of “book burning” comes up when some parent objects to the content of a book in a library or a school. Setting aside that there are two types of banning – the librarian who refuses to buy or accept a book, or quietly disposes of a book that they have a personal or political objection to, or liberal patrons who “forget” to return all 37 copies of Rush Limbaugh’s books they borrowed and the library never replaces the book…
Well, that subject is now out in full view. With a paper book in your possession, the words printed on the page stay there as long as you have the book. But what about the new book reader from Amazon called Kindle that lets you download and read books electronically?
The “stuff” is hitting the fan. According to the New York Times, Amazon was selling copies of the book “1984” by George Orwell, from a publisher who did not have copyright permission to sell the book. Amazon remotely deleted the copies of the book from People’s Kindle.
Putting aside the irony for the second, this raises the question of just how far Amazon or other publishers might go in the future (or be forced to go by governments) to delete… or even worse…. modify the text… of books for political or other reasons.
What do you think?