I was shocked and delighted to get a Kindle last year for Christmas. The first book I downloaded onto it was Abbie Hoffman’s Steal This Book. I guess there were other ironic purchases I could make, but that was the first one that occurred to me.
Steal This Book (to explain it for those born after computers were) is a hacking guide for a culture where the most complicated device most people could hack was a pay telephone. In the book, Hoffman, one of the best-known political activists of the 20th century, teaches you how to scam free food, self-publish and otherwise stick it to the establishment.
Nearly all the sneaky tips in the book are 40 years out of date, and many resulted in change-ups and clampdowns before the book even hit a second printing. Still, Steal This Book ain’t just a icon of a certain era of free expression. Turns out it still directly inspires an occasional revolutionary runaround.
In mid-March, I received this email from Kindle Store proprietor Amazon.com:
Hello,
We are writing to inform you that we need to refund your purchase of the book ‘Steal This Book (Vantage Point Classics)’. This book was added to our catalog by a third-party who we now believe did not have the rights to make the book available for sale.
We will be removing the book from our servers, making it unavailable for re-downloading from your archived items. Any copies you already have on your Kindle devices will not be removed, but you may choose to remove any such copies yourself.
The total refund amount of $1.99 will be credited to your account in 3-5 business days.
We apologize for the inconvenience. Any information and assistance you might need on your Kindle can be found here: www.amazon.com/kindlesupport
Sincerely,
Customer Service Department
Amazon.com