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We Don't Really Own the Digital Possessions That We Buy Online

posted by Fnord666 on Wednesday July 01 2020, @02:26PM   Printer-friendly
from the gone-with-the-wind dept.

An Anonymous Coward writes:

https://www.iafrikan.com/2020/06/30/do-we-really-own-our-digital-possessions/

During 2019, Microsoft announced that it will close the books category of its digital store. While other software and apps will still be available via the virtual shop front, and on purchasers' consoles and devices, the closure of the eBook store takes with it customers' eBook libraries. Any digital books bought through the service – even those bought many years ago – will no longer be readable after July 2019. While the company has promised to provide a full refund for all eBook purchases, this decision raises important questions of ownership.

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 02 2020, @02:33PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 02 2020, @02:33PM (#1015403)

    Well, you could note that failure to pay property taxes could result in an involuntary delinquency sale of the property, so you could ask if you ever really owned the house at all even after the mortgage is paid off. The state owns it, you pay the rent to them in taxes. Now if failure to pay taxes only resulted in a lien against inheritance or future sale of the property, you might own it. And I say that as someone in the process of buying a home after having rented for 15 years.

    I think the majority of the next generation may not be allowed to tie themselves down in one location if they want to advance themselves, anyway. Data may be one of the very few things that one has a pathway to owning. Who knows.