Libraries Got Screwed by Amazon and Overdrive

A call to action for librarians about the disturbing side effects to library users of the Amazon Kindle format eBook lending in Overdrive, including the threat to intellectual freedom, lost user privacy, and targeted ads pushed at our library users.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• amazon
• amazon.com
• kindle
• censorship
• books
• reading
• overdrive
• library
• libraries
• freedom of speech
• freedom to read

[shinningsun30]

I mean you are talking about privacy and all this and that which is fine but as a consumer, you have to know that your info is being kept in stores databases... I mean come on. If you think they don't, you ave have lost it. @Serai3 I agree with yzzx2. As a librarian( No not one but work with many in my line of work for the Government)are you going to be sued for this Amazon-OverDrive deal? I doubt. I will put money on it that you won't. Thanks for the rant.

[shinningsun30]

I am going to have to disagree with you on this. I use multiple OverDrive libraries and love it. I use the Kindle and have no troubles. You are complaining about Amazon... Great, don't put Amazon and OverDrive in the same category. OverDrive doesn't, I repeat, DOES NOT profit from you (or anyone else) buying a book from Amazon for your Kindle. If you have a Kindle, you should know that Amazon is keeping information. Duh! Do you think anything is good about digital lending? Gosh.l

[peterotooled]

(Preface all statements in this post with "It seems that...")

Libraries and all other essentially anonymous constructs (the web, membership in organizations, any and all personal information, etc.) are being eroded by twin powers: The State (they're not called statistics for nothing) and The Corporation. The first seeks power and control over it's citizens; the second seeks to guarantee it's consumer base. We must resist! So, Vote! With your franchise and with your wallet. While you still can!!

[lotusson]

Amazon is a dick of a company. Have been for a while.

[Serai3]

All excellent reasons never to use a Kindle at all, whether for library books or purchasing books. It's incredible to me that people are now so cavalier about their private data. And all this for the "convenience" of a very expensive toy as opposed to dealing with real books. As the old saying goes, a fool and his money are soon parted.

[Serai3]

@yzzx2 Are you a librarian? Do you know anything about the profession? If not, then STFU.

[666davidomar666]

YOU LOOK VERY NICE

[mellokittyx4]

@philistine2nd  You are the point she is making.

[saturnine666]

I almost stood up out of my chair to applaud this video. (But ... Cat on my lap.) Anyway, I'm thrilled there are librarians like you out there taking my civil liberties seriously.

Also: Oh my GOD, what's with the haters? Scared to see an intelligent, articulate woman standing up to protect your constitutional rights & uphold her field's ethics? Is this, like, foreign to you? @yzzx2, @Meda01, @philistine2nd, y'all just sound like big babies.

Ignore the shitheads, Miss Houghton. You're spot on.

[yzzx2]

You as a librarian are not breaking any laws by someone else checking out a library book on a Kindle. You are being overly dramatic and silly.