Kindle User Claims Amazon Deleted Entire Library

Cory Doctorow, Canadian journalist, blogger, sci-fi author in addition to being a former bookseller reports at Boing Boing on Amazon’s deletion of one customers library.

According to Martin Bekkelund, a Norwegian Amazon customer identified only as Linn had her Kindle access revoked without warning or explanation. Her account was closed, and her Kindle was remotely wiped. Bekkelund has posted a string of emails that he says were sent to Linn by the company. They are a sort of Kafkaesque dumbshow of bureaucratic non-answering, culminating in the customer service version of “Die in a fire,” to whit, “We wish you luck in locating a retailer better able to meet your needs and will not be able to offer any additional insight or action on these matters,” a comment signed by “Michael Murphy, Executive Customer Relations, Amazon.co.uk.”

As previously advised, your Amazon.co.uk account has been closed, as it has come to our attention that this account is related to a previously blocked account. While we are unable to provide detailed information on how we link related accounts, please know that we have reviewed your account on the basis of the information provided and regret to inform you that it will not be reopened. Please understand that the closure of an account is a permanent action. Any subsequent accounts that are opened will be closed as well. Thank you for your understanding with our decision.
I appreciate this is not the outcome you hoped for and apologise for any disappointment this may cause.

Cory Doctorow, Canadian journalist, blogger, sci-fi author in addition to being a former bookseller reports at Boing Boing on Amazon’s deletion of one customers library.

According to Martin Bekkelund, a Norwegian Amazon customer identified only as Linn had her Kindle access revoked without warning or explanation. Her account was closed, and her Kindle was remotely wiped. Bekkelund has posted a string of emails that he says were sent to Linn by the company. They are a sort of Kafkaesque dumbshow of bureaucratic non-answering, culminating in the customer service version of “Die in a fire,” to whit, “We wish you luck in locating a retailer better able to meet your needs and will not be able to offer any additional insight or action on these matters,” a comment signed by “Michael Murphy, Executive Customer Relations, Amazon.co.uk.”

As previously advised, your Amazon.co.uk account has been closed, as it has come to our attention that this account is related to a previously blocked account. While we are unable to provide detailed information on how we link related accounts, please know that we have reviewed your account on the basis of the information provided and regret to inform you that it will not be reopened. Please understand that the closure of an account is a permanent action. Any subsequent accounts that are opened will be closed as well. Thank you for your understanding with our decision.
I appreciate this is not the outcome you hoped for and apologise for any disappointment this may cause.

Back in 2009, when Amazon settled the lawsuit over its remote deletion of Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four (you really can’t make this stuff up), it promised that it would not perform any further deletions unless ordered to do so by a court. I repeatedly asked Amazon whether DRM-free ebooks, or files that users load onto their Kindles themselves, could be remotely deleted. I never received a response of any kind.