I'm scared, frustrated, don't know who to go to anymore

[BuddyBoy]

Originally Posted by overfloater

Conspiracy theories are my favorite!

In fact we have both sides in this thread now: you pondering whether I'm an Amazon shill, and someone else accusing others of conveniently stirring up anti-Amazon/pro-B&N sentiment leading up to the new Nook tablet.

I hate to disappoint, but no: I have no connection to Amazon. At least not beyond having thrown countless hundreds of dollars at them over the last 10 years. I'll admit I'm a fan -- hence they get so much of my business -- though the whole eBook DRM/licensing thing leaves me cold, so the OP has my sympathies in that respect regardless of whether or not the rest of his story is entirely kosher.

Nah, I didn't think you were a shill, just hoped you had an inside track to clarify some of this nonsense.

[jrw93]

Just wanted to chime in and update you guys.

I am not receiving any more e-mails from these specialists. My APP store as well as MP3, video and cloud storage is still inaccessible. My kindle content, however, is accessible and I have downloaded/backed up all the books I have purchased.

I just am thankful that I did NOT get a Kindle fire during the holidays. Can you imagine a kindle fire without access to the appstore? I'm willing to bet the 6+ million customers of the kindle fires don't know Amazon can take all their apps away in an instant, even the ones they paid for.

[Shopaholic]

Originally Posted by overfloater

Oh and, with all due respect to the other posters, ignore the suggestions to contact the BBB. Overrated, ineffectual, thoroughly powerless, and a complete waste of time. It has no governmental affiliation or regulatory authority. Moreover, nobody pays any attention to complaints lodged there anyway. You'd do just as well to spend your time writing your letter of complaint, sealing it in a corked bottle, and lobbing it into the ocean.

Mind if I steal that quote? LOL I've tried telling people that for years but never quite so eloquently. I love it!! So true indeed!!

[JoHunt]

Originally Posted by jrw93

Just wanted to chime in and update you guys.

I am not receiving any more e-mails from these specialists. My APP store as well as MP3, video and cloud storage is still inaccessible. My kindle content, however, is accessible and I have downloaded/backed up all the books I have purchased.

I just am thankful that I did NOT get a Kindle fire during the holidays. Can you imagine a kindle fire without access to the appstore? I'm willing to bet the 6+ million customers of the kindle fires don't know Amazon can take all their apps away in an instant, even the ones they paid for.

I'll be willing to bet that those 6+ million customers have nothing to worry about as they do not have banned accounts.

Your posts are beginning to sound like nothing more than an attempt to discredit Amazon.

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by joehunt

can you even access Amazon's app store without a Kindle Fire?

Yes the app store is available for other Android devices. I use it on my phones. The great thing about it you can buy the app once and put it on all your devices. The downside is you need app store install to run those apps and you have to be logged in.

[JoHunt]

Originally Posted by Blossom

Yes the app store is available for other Android devices. I use it on my phones. The great thing about it you can buy the app once and put it on all your devices. The downside is you need app store install to run those apps and you have to be logged in.

Thanks Blossom. I was in the process of modifying my post after I checked this on Amazon

[amjbrown]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Indeed not. Or I wouldn't have 350+ ebooks in my TBR folder!

I thought I was bad with 62! Wretched Kindle Daily Deal

[Jyster]

Originally Posted by Andrew H.

Actually, this is not true. If the company has a security interest in the property and can take it without breaching the peace, they are allowed to do so. This is how cars are repossessed; there is no need for a court order.

[/QUOTE]

He is right, and you are wrong. A business can not take something of yours without the courts permission.

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by jrw93

Just wanted to chime in and update you guys.

I am not receiving any more e-mails from these specialists. My APP store as well as MP3, video and cloud storage is still inaccessible. My kindle content, however, is accessible and I have downloaded/backed up all the books I have purchased.

I just am thankful that I did NOT get a Kindle fire during the holidays. Can you imagine a kindle fire without access to the appstore? I'm willing to bet the 6+ million customers of the kindle fires don't know Amazon can take all their apps away in an instant, even the ones they paid for.

You've run your course with Amazon and me. Good-bye.

[ApK]

Originally Posted by jrw93

I just am thankful that I did NOT get a Kindle fire during the holidays. Can you imagine a kindle fire without access to the appstore?

You can also get Fire apps from a dozen other sources, like getjar, mobile1, etc.
Or you could root the Fire, and replace the OS entirely.

I'm willing to bet the 6+ million customers of the kindle fires don't know Amazon can take all their apps away in an instant, even the ones they paid for.

Forgive me if I don't cower in fear. I suspect, as said above, the vast majority of us have nothing to worry about, and of the of the minority who do, the vast majority of them know exactly why....

[ApK]

Originally Posted by Jyster

He is right, and you are wrong. A business can not take something of yours without the courts permission.

They already have the courts permission, by way of settled law.

The only part of the Amazon scenario I'm curious about is the deleting of files off the device remotely (a la the 1984 incident).

I'm surprised that's allowed. They can certainly deny ACCESS to the content...change the DRM key, etc, and they can certainly prevent you from accessing their systems again, but I'm surprised they're allowed to delete the actually data off a hardware device that you do in fact own, regardless of TOS.

[Harmon]

Originally Posted by ApK

They already have the courts permission, by way of settled law.

The only part of the Amazon scenario I'm curious about is the deleting of files off the device remotely (a la the 1984 incident).

I'm surprised that's allowed. They can certainly deny ACCESS to the content...change the DRM key, etc, and they can certainly prevent you from accessing their systems again, but I'm surprised they're allowed to delete the actually data off a hardware device that you do in fact own, regardless of TOS.

Well, they are allowed to until someone stops them. Their TOS is not the final word, but it is the first word, and hence the operativeword so long as no one takes them to court or the legislature doesn't act to prevent them.

Personally, I think that their so-called license is, legally, a sale. But the instances in which Amazon acts to delete material must be extremely rare, and I suspect normally involves situations where the customer does not himself have "clean hands." Such customers aren't likely to resort to the courts.

If I recall correctly, in the 1984 instance Amazon made the customers whole by refunding what they paid. So that was a situation in which, while Amazon was in my view, acting illegally, the damage to the customer is hard to quantify. Without damage, there's no lawsuit.

The likelihood of an innocent customer being screwed by Amazon and then being willing to incur the trouble & expense to take the matter to court seems pretty remote.

[ProfCrash]

They also returned the book. So people got one free book and 1984 or two free books.

[montalex]

I recently purchased an ebook from Amazon, then returned it to buy another edition. That was over a week ago, and they never removed it from my Kindle, in spite of several "sync and check for items" visits. More recently, I re-purchased the book, although I still have the other version.

As in returns of damaged Kindles, etc., I think that Amazon policy is to trust you if you haven't given them reason not to.

[Victoria]

My vote is that the story is completely bogus. Everytime discussion wound down, the OP would post a new little tidbit to crank it up.

Since conspiracy theories are fun, I'll offer a few more to the ones already suggested:
- he is psychology or marketing major, and this is his research project
- he is a security consultant for Amazon, and is hoping that some posting or private message will reveal a back door into a closed account
- he is an agent provocateur hoping to ingratiate himself with Mobileread members who believe in conspiracies