1. Amazon
TERMS OF USE, PRIVACY NOTICE &
LICENSE AGREEMENT
Online Policy Primer
NET 303

2. Amazon.com
What was the world‟s biggest bookstore has now become the
world‟s biggest everything store (Hoovers, 2011).

3. Selling anything from books,
CDs, Blurays and MP3s to
cameras, clothing, toys,
sports equipment and lots more.
Photo credit: „Kindle 2.0 in a box‟ (2009) by shadowstorm

4. They even have their own range of credit cards
(Amazon, 2011c).
Photo credit: „amazon.co.jp Credit Card‟ (2008) by MJ/TR ( ω )

5. But have you read their
Terms of Use,
Privacy Policy or
License Agreement?

6. Because by even visiting the website, you are accepting the
practices outlined in the Privacy Policy (Amazon, 2008),
which states that Amazon can collect and store a
comprehensive dossier
of your personal details and other information including:

7. your name
address
phone number
credit card information
email addresses
your friends‟ details
your photograph
financial information
and social security
and driver‟s license numbers
(Amazon, 2008).
Photo credit: „Self Portrait‟ (2009) by t6mdm

8. This kind of data mining has been called by Rotenburg as
“a ticking privacy time bomb” (Barbaro & Zeller, 2006),
where your personal information is compiled, stored and
used as they see fit but recently governments have
attempted to gain access to customer data compiled
by Amazon, interested in what people are buying including titles like…

9. “Lolita”
“Brokeback Mountain”
and “Fahrenheit 9/11”
(Cohen, 2010).

10. Generally speaking, Terms of Use and privacy policies
are rarely read by users but
“they are the binding forces that
determine what a company can do
with your personal information
and private data” (White, 2011).

11. Another way Amazon gets your information is through the use of
Flash cookies, which are more persistent and are harder to avoid
relative to normal browser cookies (Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, 2011).
Photo credit: „”chocolate chip cookies‟ (2009) by seriousbri

12. Also, although the Privacy Notice states that Amazon does not sell
products to children, there is no way it can verify that is can‟t happen.
Photo credit: „"his" computer‟ (2011) by Paul Mayne

13. And of course…
“Amazon reserves the right to refuse service, terminate accounts,
remove or edit content, or cancel orders in their sole discretion”
(Amazon, 2011b).

14. Photo credit: „Kindle Birdies‟ (2010) by sarowen

15. As a Kindle owner, you are subject to the
Kindle License Agreement and Terms of Use which states
“Digital Content is licensed,
not sold, to you by the Content Provider”
(Amazon, 2011a).

16. This means that you don‟t own
books in a traditional sense,
rather just the unlimited rights
to read them (Buchanan, 2008).
You can‟t resell or loan your
digital copy.
Now that's a whole new
interpretation of
“ownership”.
Photo credit: Adapted from „Book Sale‟ (2010)
by clemsonunivlibrary

17. Amazon also have to rights to
remove
purchased content from your Kindle.
In 2009, Amazon deleted digital copies of books from customers‟ devices,
without consent or notice,
due to insufficient rights to sell the books (Stone, 2009).

18. Ironically, among the books
removed were George Orwell‟s
„1984‟ and
„Animal Farm‟.
Photo credit: „Pig‟ (2010) by Travis S.

19. Kindle owners were angry.
This case highlights the “gap in understanding about rights
in the digital world and the real world” (Claburn, 2009).
People expect digital world rights to be
the same as real world right.

20. The Kindle License Agreement has been
changed and amended
many hundreds of times over the last few years (TOSBack, 2011),
constantly protecting Amazon‟s best interests.
Photo credit: „Day 54/365‟ (2010) by Roxanne Cooke

21. But if you were notified every time it changes,
which you‟re not,
would you re-read the agreement?

22. So if you think that digital copy of „1984‟ is the same
as the one on your bookshelf, think again.
Photo credit: „Big Brother Congestion‟ (2006) by jeroen020

23. So let‟s recap,
Amazon is a company that knows who you are,
where you live,
your bank and credit card details,
your phone number and email address,
what you like,
what you buy and
who your friends are.
Plus they have access to your purchased digital content,
which they have the power to remove.

24. Would you trust them?

25. Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License.

26. References
Amazon (2011a). Amazon.com Kindle License Agreement and Terms of Use. Retrieved from
http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/ref=hp_left_sib?ie=UTF8&nodeId=20050
6200
Amazon (2011b). Conditions of Use. Retrieved from
http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?ie=UTF8&nodeId=508088
Amazon (2011c). Amazon.com Credit Offerings. Retrieved from http://www.amazon.com/Credit-
Cards/b?ie=UTF8&node=1266766011
Amazon (2008). Amazon.com Privacy Notice. Retrieved from
http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?ie=UTF8&nodeId=468496
amazon.co.jp Credit Card (2008). [Image]. Retrieved from
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mujitra/2527994700/
Barbaro, M. & Zeller, T. (2006). A Face Is Exposed for AOL Searcher No. 4417749. Retrieved from
http://w2.eff.org/Privacy/AOL/exhibit_d.pdf
Big Brother Congestion (2006). [Image]. Retrieved from
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeroen020/349034095/
Book Sale (2010). [Image]. Retrieved from
http://www.flickr.com/photos/clemsonunivlibrary/5017091407/
Buchanan, C. (2008). Amazon Kindle and Sony Reader Locked Up: Why Your Books Are No
Longer Yours. Retrieved from http://gizmodo.com/369235/amazon-kindle-and-sony-reader-
locked-up-why-your-books-are-no-longer-yours

27. Claburn, T. (2009). Amazon Says It Will Stop Deleting Kindle Books. Retrieved from
http://www.informationweek.com/news/personal-tech/digital-content/218501227
Cohen, N. (2010). In a State’s Search for Sales Tax, Amazon Raises Privacy Concerns. Retrieved from
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/03/business/media/03link.html?src=busln
Day 54/365 (2010). [Image]. Retrieved from http://www.flickr.com/photos/yakoshka/4383282187/
Hoovers (2011). Amazon.com, Inc. [Fact Sheet] Retrieved from
http://www.hoovers.com/company/Amazoncom_Inc/hrcsyi-1.html
“his” computer (2011). [Image]. Retrieved from http://www.flickr.com/photos/paulm/5574119017/
Kindle 2.0 in a box (2009). [Image]. Retrieved from
http://www.flickr.com/photos/shadowstorm/3312576649/
Kindle Birdies (2010). [Image]. Retrieved from http://www.flickr.com/photos/sarowen/4411436839/
Pig (2011). [Image]. Retrieved from http://www.flickr.com/photos/baggis/6115219043/
Privacy Rights Clearinghouse (2011). Fact Sheet 18: Online Privacy: Using the Internet Safely [Fact
Sheet]. Retrieved from https://www.privacyrights.org/fs/fs18-cyb.htm
Self Portrait (2009). [Image]. Retrieved from http://www.flickr.com/photos/t6mdm/3362295860/
Stone, B. (2009). Amazon Erases Orwell Books From Kindle. Retrieved from
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/18/technology/companies/18amazon.html
TOSBack: The Terms of Service Tracker (2011). Amazon Kindle License Agreement and Terms of Use.
Retrieved from http://www.tosback.org/policy.php?pid=35
White, C. (2011). Analyzing the Terms of Service (or “Not Every Company is Evil”) [Editorial]. Retrieved
from http://www.neowin.net/news/analyzing-the-terms-of-service-or-not-every-company-is-evil