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The Kids Win. Sort of #AmazonFail

I just hung up the phone with Amazon, when I’d given them the AIN number B0049U4CF6, the lady got overly nice and said, “we have stopped selling this electronic book.” She went on to say things like, “We are working on ways to get the whole thing off our site.” and I got lightheaded and giddy when she said, “Rest assured nothing like this will happen again.”

So here I am back to loving Amazon when someone sends me this page marked “preteen”

http://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/search/ref=a9_sc_1?rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Acandy+doll&keywords=candy+doll&ie=UTF8&qid=1289452006

Don’t look if you have a daughter my age. It’s hard to see the Internet through tears.

I suppose much like Facebook, Amazon is a site I will continue to use, but not trust.

If you want to buy a nice book, I’ve written a chapter in one. Buy two, one for you, and one for a friend.

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10 thoughts on “The Kids Win. Sort of #AmazonFail”

  1. WTF is that?!?

    I am with you, though, I am ok with Amazon for now, but not sure I can trust them… Definitely waiting to see if there is an official statement and if I am responded to in any way like you were.

  2. That DVD link shows that it was not just a one-off event. It doesn’t matter if it is Amazon Japan that sells those DVDs. Amazon is a US company, and as far as I know their foreign subsidiaries are covered by lots of US laws.

    If a pedophile from the US or Europe commit pedophile crimes in a 3rd world country, they can usually be prosecuted in their home countries.

    If a US corporation violate the foreign corrupt practices act they and their officers can get prosecuted in the US.

    How can Amazon then get away with selling child porn videos in Japan? Even if Japanese laws allow that, shouldn’t US laws and law enforcement act against Amazon in the US? The authorities should freeze their assets until they clean up their act. Customers should boycott them and cancel their accounts with them.

    Stand up and show Amazon that this is not acceptable! They can not hide behind “free speech”. The author of that pedophile instruction book can maybe claim that he’s exercising free speech, but there is absolutely NOTHING that require Amazon to sell/distribute/print such material. In fact, they censor a lot of less controversial material, but allow something like this? Sickening…

  3. I don’t support the selling of the book. My family and friends know that if the worst happened and my kids were hurt by someone I would follow through on a blood oath. That is not bravado, it is fact. Screw with my children and you will pay- but I am not real worried about pedophiles.

    Let me be clear that this doesn’t mean that I am not concerned or that I don’t take them seriously because I do. However I have to look at the statistics and say that I am most concerned about the stupid crap that I did as a kid.

    We jumped off of the roof into the swimming pool. Rode our bikes in the street with reckless abandon and did a hundred other stupid things. In college we drank like fish and weren’t always smart about driving. We didn’t always use protection in sex etc.

    That list is what I worry most about. And might I add that while I fear for both of my children, in some ways I am more frightened about what could happen to my daughter.

  4. I’m still debating how I will handle shopping with Amazon from now on… unfortunately they just acquired Diapers.com, which I use HEAVILY and would have a very hard time boycotting. So, we’ll see… What really bugs me is that Amazon has a set of content guidelines for what they will and will not sell, which they are obviously not bothering to follow: http://forums.digitaltextplatform.com/dtpforums/entry.jspa?externalID=122&categoryID=27 (that, and their total lack of public acknowledgment of any of this)

    I would like to remind the other commenters here that while the threat of the creepy pedophile lurking in the bushes is very scary, the vast majority of child sexual abuse cases involve people the child already knows and is comfortable with- usually family members or good friends. The “pedophiles in your neighborhood” that you most need to fear are probably the ones you’d be inviting into your living room.

    Which is why it is so very important to teach children about boundaries and what is and is not ok for others to do to their bodies.

  5. I don’t see myself shopping from Amazon for a long time ater this. And WTF is that link! I’m literally sickened by the thought of what those girls are going thru.

    There are plenty of other sites out there to buy from, and if you want to buy books try a site like http://www.betterworldbooks.com/. You’ll get your book and your conscience can rest easy.

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