Amazon facing Kindle lawsuit for mass 1984 deletion

by Stevie Smith - Jul 31 2009, 15:00

Convenient digital devices like the Amazon Kindle electronic book reader might be all the rage ‘wiv da kids’ these days, but perhaps there’s still something to be said for good old-fashioned paper when it comes to carrying around important personal texts and print publications.

More pointedly, online retail giant Amazon is staring down the wrong end of a possible class action lawsuit after its recent decision to remotely delete George Orwell’s book 1984 from thousands of Kindle devices left one disgruntled student in America suddenly deprived of important coursework.

According to 17-year-old student Justin Gawronski of Shelby Township, Michigan, the abrupt removal of Orwell’s contentious dystopian novel from his Kindle reader left accompanying electronic research notes amassed during the summer all-but worthless.

The class action lawsuit brought forward by Gawronski – on behalf of all those affected by the blanket deletion of 1984 – states his notations have been “rendered useless because they no longer reference the relevant parts of the book.”

Represented by Jay Edelson, a Chicago-based lawyer, Gawronski’s lawsuit seeks to secure punitive damages for all Kindle owners deprived of their paid content without warning. It also calls for Amazon to be struck with a court injunction preventing the retailer from remotely accessing Kindle devices in the future.

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