The Amazon has to update Kindle's purchase conditions in the United States to clarify that customers are gaining a license for content, not ownership. Read the new statement: “By submitting your order, you buy a content license and agree to the conditions for using the Kindle store.This update is for American customers; International users continue to see the previous formulation, but the message is the same: You do not own it; We just allow you to use it.
Starting February 26, 2025, Will Amazon to stop the “Download and transfer via USB“A feature for Kindle devices. This means that users can no longer download Kindle books directly on their computers for manual transport, as access to the content purchased now depends on the cloud infrastructure from Amazon. This change refers to a hidden fact about ownership and enhances a simple fact: it is not for you if another person can take it.
This is not just a problem with Amazon but it applies to all content and materials in our current digital age. Your favorite songs and albums cannot be accessed on your broadcast application without internet connection. It limits the number of devices that you can listen to, and they enter ads unless they pay them monthly fees. The days of the records, tapes, and CDs that enjoy freedom of listening as they want, resell, or even give them up to a friend.
What does something mean to have something? Ownership is usually understood as an act or the condition of possessing something. In this case, it is clear that we have the content, but it can be changed or removed from us at any time. This is not real property. Oxford The ownership of states is defined as “the exclusive right to use, possession and elimination of property.” So exclusive is required in ownership.
What about other unsuccessful digital elements such as money or identity? You have your name or deal with social media or email. This is you, it's like you on the Internet, your personality and the content you created. You cannot have two people holding the same name or handle, and this uniqueness is implemented by a password on the account, but this account can be locked, banned or deleted at any time through Facebook or X. What about this money in your bank account? You own it, and you have legal rights for them, but banks freeze accounts, and governments seize money all the time. This is not real property.
So I ask again: What does something mean to have something? It is not enough to own it; The presence of exclusive or even legal rights is not enough. To really have something, you should be able to apply this possession and exclusive. In the material world, the application is largely due to coercion, threat or actual use of violence. Notice of evacuation from the police department, armed guards in front of cellar, and re -drawing the border after the war. In the digital field, encryption serves this purpose, and at the same time, it removes the need for violence by making force ineffective. It creates ownership that cannot be exceeded by violence. No physical strength can break strong encryption. The government can seize a server, and the company can stop an account, but if the data and the private key are encoded, the information remains unable. The only way to access encoded assets is through approval.
The encryption does not only protect digital property; It changes the nature of power. It removes violence from the equation. For this reason is very troubled.
Digital signature in encrypted systems is how ownership and control of the digital world are proven. PGP allows you to sign messages and files, which proves that it came from you and has not been changed. Nostr, a decentralized social media protocol, works in the same way. Your posts and identity are related to your own key, and not a company that can block or delete you. Bitcoin embodies this principle. Control your own keys only means that you can access and manage your money. When you sign Bitcoin treatment, you can only access and transfer your money. No bank can freeze it, and no government can seize it without your key. Real ownership revolves around the ability to apply that property.
You come to the Bitcoin intuition “not your keys, not your currencies.” “Not your keys, not your coins,” means if you don't control the special keys to Bitcoin, you do not have them. When Bitcoin keeps the stock exchange, the stock exchange holds the keys, not you. They can freeze your account, reduce withdrawals, or even lose your money. Bidcoin's brokerage and retirement accounts can be frozen or seized as any bank account. Real ownership means keeping your keys because only you have complete control over your money, identity and property.
The transformation from material to digital make access easier but ownership is mysterious. Whether it is books, music, identity, or money, the mere possession is an illusion of ownership. Companies can cancel access, governments can seize money, and platforms can erase identity, but encryption changes this. The property becomes implemented, not under laws, company or institution, but with mathematics. If you want a real digital property, the rule is simple: control your keys, or that someone else is the real owner.
This is a guest post from Will Jarger. The opinions that are expressed are completely property and do not necessarily reflect the views of BTC Inc or Magazine Bitcoin.