E-Books

Reading is a fact of life at our house. Both My Lady and I love the printed word and the knowledge that can be found in books. Every time we move the weight of books we have to ship raises exponentially, on the last move I think it came to just under 2 tons of books we want to keep and can’t bare to part with. And just about all of them have a subject area that is technical, historical and professional development, if we want fiction we go to the library and borrow because fiction is ephemeral while knowledge is lasting.

My briefcase always has a book inside for those moments when I’m waiting for a judge or a client to give me a moment of time. Because of that need to keep my mind occupied I’ve thought about getting an E-Book, such as Kindle, where I could store multiple books and not take up too much space in the briefcase. But a few days ago I heard about a Kindle “feature” that has me reconsidering going electronic.

Kindle has the ability to scan books I’ve been reading, see if I’ve underlined selected passages, compare it with what other readers of the same book have marked and annotate my copy with notations and comments. I don’t mark up books like that and I don’t like reading books others have defaced with scribbled comments they thought were important to them.

Listen up Amazon, I will buy your device for my pleasure and I expect my privacy to be honored. No one has the authority to invade my (or any one else’s) personal space and compare my likes, dislikes or even my thinking with that of others. Nor can you reach out to my privately owned device and alter or delete the contents, which a scan of legal reporting seems to be what you believe is your right from the number of complaints and legal actions I found.

My personal (and publicly stated) opinion is that anyone searching my private library has the same rights as someone picking my pocket and browsing through its contents. You are a thief and should be treated as such!