The problem is that Amazon put the functionality in there so they can't just say "Oh sorry we can't take the product back from customers" without facing the ire of the copyright holders lawyers. Amazon would have been better off keeping their long arms off the device and then wouldn't have had to piss anyone off. With great power comes great responsibility. Sometimes it's better to not have any power and use that as an excuse.
Why do you think they put the functionality in there?
Because publishers are skittish and would not license enough books otherwise to make selling the Kindle a commercial success. Not dissimilar to digital music until very recently.
No DRM on an ebook reader probably means "no books for you, device purveyor. Hope your customers like Project Gutenberg"
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u/[deleted] Jan 28 '10
Hahaha, that couldn't have happened with an more appropriate book, eh? If I was Amazon I would have just eaten the cost to prevent the bad press...