NNSquad - Network Neutrality Squad
[ NNSquad ] Amazon wipes customer's account and books, won't explain why
Amazon wipes customer's account and books, won't explain why
http://j.mp/Vvj9dO (Bekkelund)
"A couple of days a go, my friend Linn sent me an e-mail, being very
frustrated: Amazon just closed her account and wiped her Kindle.
Without notice. Without explanation. This is DRM at it's worst. Linn
travels a lot and therefore has, or should I say had, a lot of books
on her Kindle, purchased from Amazon. Suddenly, her Kindle was wiped
and her account was closed. Being convinced that something wrong had
happened, she sent an e-mail to Amazon, asking for help. This was the
answer: ..."
- - -
I cannot emphasize enough how common this generic pattern is in
queries I get from folks -- and most definitely not just with Amazon.
Accounts are closed, no reasonable escalation routes or explanations
are forthcoming, and people feel trapped in a Kafkaesque box.
Ironically, in most of these situations there is at least a rational
explanation for what's going on (which may or may not involve a user
or corporate system error) but the users can't find out what it is and
end up being incredibly frustrated and angry.
Most of these firms feel (with some justification) that if they
revealed too much of their decision processes in such cases they'd
make it easier for bad actors to "game" their systems. But since most
of these same firms have long declined to provide effective escalation
routes, ombudsmen, or other formal means for users to appeal these
situations in truly useful manners, the result is public blow-ups like
this one, more attention from regulators, and just generally bad
feelings all around that shouldn't have been necessary.
--Lauren--
Lauren Weinstein (lauren@vortex.com): http://www.vortex.com/lauren
Co-Founder: People For Internet Responsibility: http://www.pfir.org/pfir-info
Founder:
- Network Neutrality Squad: http://www.nnsquad.org
- PRIVACY Forum: http://www.vortex.com/privacy-info
- Data Wisdom Explorers League: http://www.dwel.org
- Global Coalition for Transparent Internet Performance: http://www.gctip.org
Member: ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com
Google+: http://vortex.com/g+lauren / Twitter: http://vortex.com/t-lauren
Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800 / Skype: vortex.com
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