Yet another major online service is getting into the online Movie distribution game… Amazon. Now, I LOVE Amazon. I get almost half of my books from them and their service is always top notch… but a bunch of readers have been sending me links regarding the Amazon Unbox program that quite frankly scares the hell out of me.
The folks over at Boingboing have put up a comprehensive analysis of the dreaded “terms of service” agreement that they make you enter into… and my friends… it is indeed horror:
When you sign onto Unbox, you sign away all the amazing customer rights that Amazon itself is so careful to protect. Amazon Unbox takes away your privacy and every conceivable consumer right you have, and then tells you that the goods you buy from them don’t belong to you, and they can take them away from you at any time, or change the deal you get from them without any appeal by you.
Amazon Unbox’s user agreement isn’t just galling for its evilness — it’s also commercially suicidal. No sane person will agree to this. Amazon Unbox user agreement is only a couple femtometers more dignified than being traded to another inmate for a couple packs of cigarettes.
The article is quite long, but trust me… it’s well worth the read. If you or anyone you know have been considering using the AMazon Unbox program, I strongly suggest you go over and read through this article before you make any decisions. I know I won’t be using it.
