Amazon Giving Away $30 To Ex-Orwell Book Owners
Amazon has decided to offer free books or $30 to Kindle customers that had copies of George Orwell’s "1984" and "Animal Farm" novels, which were deleted from their electronic reading devices back in July.
When Amazon erased the books from the server, the company issued refunds to the buyers. However, this situation frustrated many Kindle customers that did not know Amazon had the neo-Orwellian ability to erase content that had already been purchased and downloaded to the device.
Amazon CEO Jeff Bazos apologized on behalf of the company, saying that deleting the books from Kindles to address the rights question was "stupid, thoughtless, and painfully out of line with our principles."
Kindle owners that bought George Orwell’s books received an e-mail on Thursday from Amazon that offered to redeliver the novels to their e-readers for free, along with any annotations users had made. If the customer does not wish to have the book refunded then they can opt for a $30 Amazon.com gift certificate, or a $30 check.
Amazon claimed that Orwell’s novels had been added to its catalog by a third party that did not have rights to the books.
Amazon spokesman Drew Herdener said Friday that the company now has the proper rights to distribute the books.
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