George Orwell’s classic book 1984 is about a totalitarian society in which privacy doesn’t exist — “Big Brother” is the enduring image from the book.

Well, in the type of irony that you just can’t make up, Amazon.com just pulled a Big Brother-like maneuver when it deleted copies of 1984 and Animal Farm, another Orwell work, from owners of its Kindle e-book readers.

According to the New York Times, the books’ publisher changed its mind about releasing them in electronic format. So without warning or request, Amazon automatically deleted those books from all Kindle devices, and electronically refunded the money to every customer who bought a copy.

Sounds more than a little like something that would happen in 1984, doesn’t it? Scary, and a very, very bad move on Amazon’s part. If folks are spending $300 on an electronic book-reading device, then spending more to download books, it will create an awful lot of ill will from current customers, and will surely give potential future customers something to think about before writing a check (or clicking on PayPal).

Here’s hoping Amazon changes its mind. Are you listening, guys?