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Filed under: Business, News

Amazon pays off victims of 1984 incident

A while back, we told you how Amazon revealed its ability to delete a book from all Kindle devices, even after customers had purchased it. In a somewhat poetic twist, the deleted book that brought this to everyone's attention was George Orwell's 1984, and bloggers were quick to liken Amazon's activities to those of 1984's Big Brother. Now, to smooth things over with customers, Amazon is offering anyone who bought 1984 a redelivery of the book or $30.

If you're one of the affected customers, you can take your payoff as Amazon store credit, or in the form of a check. For those who choose to get their books back, all notations made on the books will also be restored. This is noteworthy in light of the recent lawsuit Amazon was facing from a high school student who lost his class notes on 1984 as a result of the incident. Amazon can't really unring the bell of letting users know it can delete their purchases, so promising not to do it again and offering compensation is as close as they'll get to regaining trust.

[via slashgear]

Filed under: Internet, Security, News, Web services, Microsoft, Social Software

Fake name keeping you anonymous online? Guess again.


Think your fake registration details are keeping you anonymous on internet sites? Think again. Microsoft is hard at work developing software which can, "accurately guess your name, age, gender and potentially even your location, by analyzing telltale patterns in your web browsing history" according to a week old article at New Scientist.

Privacy advocates are not amused, and neither are computer security experts. University of Cambridge Computer security engineer Ross Anderson says, "I'd consider it somewhat pernicious if Microsoft were to deploy such software widely. They are arguably committing offenses in a number of countries under a number of different laws if they make available software that defeats the security procedures internet users deploy to protect their privacy.

If you'll excuse us, we'll be in the corner sipping Victory Gin and writing in our secret notebook.

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So, just how good at time waster games are you? Think you've got the stuff? Well, The World's Hardest Game 2.0 doesn't think you do. Yes, amazingly, it's possible to have a sequel to a game called "The World's Hardest Game". It doesn't seem logically possible, since if the first one was actually the world's hardest, how could another one come along and share the moniker? It made me doubt the name in the first place. That is, until I tried the game. The mechanics of the game are very simple. You are a small red square, ...

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