In its final email to her, it added: 'We regret that we have not been able to address your concerns to your satisfaction. When Linn queried to which 'directly related' account Amazon was referring, what had happened, and whether there was anything she could do to get her access reinstated, the online giant replied by saying it was 'unable to provide detailed information' and reiterated her account would not be reopened.

Thank you for your understanding with our decision.' Any subsequent accounts that are opened will be closed as well. Please understand that the closure of an account is a permanent action. As such, your .uk account has been closed and any open orders have been cancelled. Linn was told by Amazon: 'We have found your account is directly related to another which has been previously closed for abuse of our policies. DRM is used by hardware manufacturers and publishers to limit the use of digital content once it has been purchased by consumers in Amazon's case, it means the company can prevent you from reading content you have bought at the Kindle store on a rival device. The move, which will shock ebook fans, highlights the power digital rights management (DRM) offers blue-chip companies.

She was informed by a customer relations executive that her account had been closed, all open orders had been cancelled and all her content had been removed, but has been unable to find out why. The Norwegian woman, identified only as Linn on media commentator Martin Bekkelund's blog, approached Amazon when she realised her Kindle had been wiped. An Amazon Kindle user has had her account wiped and all her paid-for books deleted by Amazon without warning or explanation.

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