I hadn’t thought about it before, but it’s kind of suprising we don’t have more threads concerning IP. But then again, there isn’t a whole lot of publicized news concerning the subject (unless you’re looking for it, which Kinsella and Oliva used to keep us in the loop on at the blog…but Skip’s last post was almost 5 months ago, and Stephan hasn’t been around for over a month…anyone know anything?)
Anyway I saw this story, which itself doesn’t really raise IP questions, but a part mentioned in it raised some eyebrows. It’s basically saying how iCloud allows you to redownload content that you’ve purchased in the past…except there is a provision in the TOS that basically says that option can become unavailable if the content is “modified”. As one user found out, that includes if the item’s price changes. Meaning, he bought a digital book, and then went to download it to a new device and found he wasn’t able to any longer because the price had changed. Not exactly a big deal, as they aren’t exactly obligated to continue providing new copies just because someone purchased something once.
But…the article throws out this tidbit that is extremely freaky:
Cloud content storage is inherently fraught with questions of ownership; the same sort of problem arose for Amazon when it remotely deleted on-device copies of 1984 by George Orwell purchased through its Kindle store. In this case, at least Apple isn’t chasing down locally stored copies, but it still illustrates the nebulous nature of ownership when it comes to cloud-stored and supplied content.
Insane, right? And how poetic that it was that book that they stole back. The universe definitely has a sense of humor (even if it’s a sardonic one.)
I actually had not heard of that situation and am honestly surprised they went that far. Did a quick dig and found it was actually mentioned on the blog. For more IP, check that link in the quote above. It’s from earlier this year and asks the question of who owns the books in a world of digital libraries and online lending.
Finally, we can go back to the closing advice in the first article:
If there’s one lesson to take out of this user’s experience, it’s that those who absolutely want to ensure their content remains available to them should store copies locally. Of course, that takes away one of the key benefits of using cloud-stored media in the first place, but for now at least, it’s the only way to guarantee continued access.
