Amazon's mass deletion of Orwell's 1984 and Animal Farm from Kindle readers yesterday infuriated everyone who had purchased the books.

Those deleted were refunded, but the ability to remotely remove and refund the purchase of a book is so 1984-ish that the irony screams aloud.

"Once I buy a book from Barnes & Noble, I never have to worry about them breaking into my house and taking it back, leaving me a pile of singles on my nightstand," said one blogger.

In the future, alteration or deletion of e-books could become a great Orwellian form of government control.

There are, however, rebel voices. Ever vigilant on copyright issues, BoingBoing-er Mark Frauenfelder points out that such behavior will likely encourage readers to visit websites in countries where the copyright has expired on Orwell's books so they can get free un-stealable electronic copies.

As for Orwell, he is one of my favorite writers, in particular his essays "Shooting an Elephant" is poetry disguised as prose and "Politics and the English Language" includes the best list of writing tips I've ever seen:

(i) Never use a metaphor, simile or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.

(ii) Never use a long word where a short one will do.

(iii) If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.

(iv) Never use the passive where you can use the active.

(v) Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.

(vi) Break any of these rules sooner than say anything barbarous.

These rules sound elementary, and so they are, but they demand a deep change of attitude in anyone who has grown used to writing in the style now fashionable.