Just came across this story in the NY Times, "Gadget Makers Can Find Thief, but Don't Ask". The gist of it is that Amazon won't help track or recover a lost or stolen Kindle even though the ability to do that is built into the Kindle technology.
What a let down, Amazon.
Amazon says that they'll lift a virtual finger if they get a court order; other wise they won't even shut down network access for the lost device.
All they'd have to do is so trivial that it's really kind of goofy that Amazon wouldn't want to do it just to give the appearance of caring about Kindle customers. I mean, Amazon is an OK company, isn't it? Green? Good service? Good deals? All that?
So why not, when a registered owner of a Kindle -- because you have to be registered to make it work; and it is a specific machine to a specific user -- calls to say that their Kindle is lost or stolen, why not just throw a switch in the database that makes that particular kindle only show a mailing address. That effectively makes the Kindle unusable until it's returned and makes Amazon a hero instead of -- once again, coming across as an accidental creep.
The article says that Sirius Radio in the US has the same wrong attitude, but that Sirius in Canada has figured out how to do the right thing. If a Canadian registered owner signs a form saying that their radio has been stolen then Sirius will deactivate the radio. Can't sell a radio that doesn't work, so no point in stealing a radio that you can't sell. Right?
The article also says that phone companies in Europe keep a list of stolen phones and won't activate them. Cool.
Or really... duh! Maybe we should ask Congress to pass a law to make this happen here.
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