Amazon Settles Lawsuit Over Remote Deletions of Orwell Works

Amazon.com has paid $150,000 to settle a lawsuit by two Kindle owners, one of whom who lost his college coursework when Amazon remotely deleted copies of George Orwell's books from all Kindles due to a copyright problem.

One of the plaintiffs was a high school student who claimed that, along with the copy of "1984," all of his annotations done for coursework had also been wiped out when Amazon deleted the book from his Kindle. Amazon stated at the time that it remotely deleted the e-books because a third-party distributor had not been properly authorized to sell them.

The company previously offered to replace the deleted e-book on purchasers' Kindles, or provide a $30 gift certificate. The $150,000 settlement will be paid to plaintiffs' lawyers, but are earmarked to be donated to "a charitable organization that promotes children's issues, secondary or post-secondary education, health or job placement."

Only two people sued over the whole "Orwell Remote Deletion Disaster"? That's a surprise.