Posted a rough idea for a couple possibilities earlier. Now that I’ve gotten some feedback here’s what I’ll focus on.
Over the summer, Amazon deleted copies of 1984 and Animal Farm from Kindle owners with no prior warning. Though Amazon apologized for the incident and said this would not happen again, the fact that it did happen raises troubling questions about digital book ownership.
When we purchase an electronic copy of a book, do we lose ownership rights that are inherent to the book’s physical print form? What does it mean to “own” a book on a proprietary device? How will these issues evolve in the future?
More generally, how much control does the creator of a book have over how that book is distributed? What future business models for distribution and ownership will affect the way we read?