News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on Amazon vanishes 1984 from Kindles (2009). Parent comment

Re:Amazon vanishes 1984 from Kindles (2009) by MikeUt on Tuesday July 13, 2021 @07:59PM (#27827693)
And they would not notify me in advance, simply take it. And if it was in my garage, the repo man would use his master key to break in. And they keep a list of all items everyone has purchased, from cars to things as small and cheap as books, to be taken without notice if any legal issues come up in the future. The surveillance is total, the law is absolute and inescapable, the devices you own are backdoored to betray you.

Compare this to buying a physical book, with cash.

If you don't find this Orwellian, I don't know what to say.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Amazon vanishes 1984 from Kindles (2009) by alisonkisk on Tuesday July 13, 2021 @08:20PM (#27827885)
What do you think "Orwellian" means?
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Amazon vanishes 1984 from Kindles (2009) by MikeUt on Tuesday July 13, 2021 @08:36PM (#27828031)
"It denotes an attitude and a brutal policy of draconian control by propaganda, surveillance, disinformation, denial of truth (doublethink), and manipulation of the past" - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orwellian

Emphasis mine. Or are you trying to imply a single incident should encompass all those descriptors, before qualifying as Orwellian? If so, wouldn't that disqualify most incidents in 1984 itself?

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Amazon vanishes 1984 from Kindles (2009) by lefrenchy on Wednesday July 14, 2021 @09:49AM (#27832955)
I’m really not sure how trying to operate within the legal framework of a society is “surveillance” or “draconian control by propaganda” (the last two words you left unemphasized even though they change the meaning drastically). I guess surveillance is the closest, but this is likely just functionality in place to process returns, not some surveillance mechanism to make sure people don’t have banned books? If they remove someone’s book for no reason (or ideological/opposed to the book), then sure that would be “Orwellian”.
[ Parent | on HN ]