A couple of years ago we posted about how Apple was trying to crush innovation by “bricking” people's iPhones.

Maybe it's something to do with owning the hot, exclusive technology that makes you arrogant, but this case is too ironic to believe. The hot new technology this time around is the Kindle, the new e-book reader from Amazon that many people consider the first e-reader that, although not perfect, is the first on that's even worth looking at. Three bills brings it home, and you can buy over 300,000 titles.

But what if you buy a title and Amazon changes its mind? Well, then you've got a bit of a problem, as Amazon customers learned this week when they found out that books they had bought from Amazon were suddenly gone.

Or should I say “bought”? The customers thought they owned these books, but Amazon changed their mind, or the publisher changed their mind, so, poof, no more books. All the books by, get this: George Orwell!

That's right, the author who visualized and warned us against Big Brother, the all-seeing, all-powerful dictator, who knew what you were reading, what you were doing, and had the power to make you love Him. That George Orwell.

Now the giant, all-powerful, octopus-like e-retailer claims to feel bad about how it handled this situation, but you have to wonder if they would have acted this way if they had any real competition in the e-reader market.

Now maybe they do. It's not on the market yet, but it looks pretty good to me.