A while back, we told you how Amazon revealed its ability to delete a book from all Kindle devices, even after customers had purchased it. In a somewhat poetic twist, the deleted book that brought this to everyone's attention was George Orwell's 1984, and bloggers were quick to liken Amazon's activities to those of 1984's Big Brother. Now, to smooth things over with customers, Amazon is offering anyone who bought 1984 a redelivery of the book or $30.
If you're one of the affected customers, you can take your payoff as Amazon store credit, or in the form of a check. For those who choose to get their books back, all notations made on the books will also be restored. This is noteworthy in light of the recent lawsuit Amazon was facing from a high school student who lost his class notes on 1984 as a result of the incident. Amazon can't really unring the bell of letting users know it can delete their purchases, so promising not to do it again and offering compensation is as close as they'll get to regaining trust.
There's no hiding these days from Big Brother. The nutcases in the tin-foil hats would tell you there never was, but now even automakers have to watch out. Development teams out testing prototypes on public roads used to have to watch out for professional spy photographers, but with the advent camera phones and now Google Street View, there's no hiding anywhere. That's what the boys at Garage419 discovered when they found shots of several Porsche prototypes on service while searching for a good driving road in Colorado. Hard to tell much from the shots of the Boxsters, Caymans and 911s, except to say that the automakers' dev teams and the paparazzi alike have a new kid on the block to watch out for.
We've heard it before: "We're going to collect the information, but it won't go beyond..." The latest take on "Let us help you with technology" comes courtesy of GM's OnStar, which is offering you the opportunity to have your annual mileage tracked. The info will be given to their GMAC arm, which will then see if you qualify for insurance discounts. That sounds good, right?
Of course, no one mentions the other side -- that they can also see if you need a higher premium. "You told us this car was just for weekend recreation, Mr. Smith..." Signing up for the OnStar service is voluntary, so it's not going to start watching you until you say so... yet. But if you really do think you're paying too much, then why not. They probably already know everything about you, anyway...
