Why you don’t own that digital media you ‘bought’

In today’s Big Story Podcast, earlier this year, e-books by authors like Roald Dahl or Agatha Christie were changed to make certain phrases less offensive. Even though digital copies of art that have been purchased via a link or button that indicates a paid transaction, it doesn’t mean you actually own them.

Reggie Ugwu is a pop culture reporter for The New York Times. He wrote about how publishers can now just automatically update versions of their content without you needing to purchase a new copy.

“It’s not what you might think. It’s not simply factual errors that are made, that are being corrected,” said Ugwa. “It can really be anything and it’s up to the author and editor’s discretion.”

Whether you agree with those changes or not, they were applied to all e-books that updated automatically. And if you read the fine print, the control publishers have over your purchases doesn’t stop there.

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