In July, Amazon erased some instances of Orwell’s books for copyright issues. Immediately after, the CEO apologized. One step further in mea culpa, Amazon is offering to download a new version of the erased books (which this time proper copyrights) or refund 30$. The people who had their book erased received the following mail:

As you were one of the customers impacted by the removal of ‘Nineteen Eighty Four’ from your Kindle device in July of this year, we would like to offer you the option to have us re-deliver this book to your Kindle along with any annotations you made,” read an e-mail letter to affected Kindle users late last week. “You will not be charged for the book. If you do not wish to have us re-deliver the book to your Kindle, you can instead choose to receive an Amazon.com electronic gift certificate or check for $30.

Two persons are already suing Amazon for this deletion. They claimed that they will not drop the case.

Amazon has just done the right smart thing. Nevertheless, I have no doubts that this event will often illustrate the grievances of DRM opponents.