[nowthenmobile]

That's a shame. I was hoping to use the McNutt defense in court.

This discussion has been very interesting. Having read all the comments I would have to say that personally I don't see a problem, morally, with removing DRM to enable backup. The question of its legality is beyond me.

Could it be possible that what Amazon (and others) are selling are not eBooks but the license to read eBooks in a circumstance prescribed by Amazon (ie only on a Kindle)? When we buy one of their eBooks we are entering into that agreement? (We always have the choice not to enter that agreement.) If so then it might be helpful to see the situation as being analagous with an OEM Microsoft Windows license. When we buy that license it comes with a given PC. If, some time in the future, we decide that we want a bigger and better PC, we cannot migrate that license to the new PC. It stays with the original PC.
If I decide that Kindles have fallen behind the technology of other eReaders or they are out of step on price, then I could move to a Sony but my licenses to read the eBooks remain with the original device.
By the way, I despise Microsoft for creating the OEM license concept.

Whether or not it is morally correct for us to ignore an OEM eBook agreement is a more difficult question for me to grapple with than the question of whether or not I should be allowed to remove DRM for the sole purpose of backup.

Of course one of the impressive things about the Amazon deal is that we can have the same eBook on 6 different Kindles - This is a strong attraction in our household of 7 people.