Amazon.com self-censorship
hoffman
and other fine merchandise has recently enacted
a policy of self-censorship relating to books pertaining
to the professional aspects of chemical engineering
with respect to explosives development and
implementation (in addition to stopping sales of
the usual assortment of junk Ragnar Benson
type books).
This refusal to sell certain books, I conjecture, is
clearly precipitated by the recent terrorist events.
WRITE AMAZON.COM IMMEDIATELY
--------------------------------------------------------
(1) Ask them to verify or deny this policy.
(2) State the others have made this claim,
and you want a "straight" answer.
(3) Ask them if they have "reported" any
customers; or if they would do so if
books on explosives were ordered.
(4) As them to make an official statement
with regards to if reporting customers
would be a violation of their own privacy
policy which they make such a big
deal about.
It is unclear whether Amazons self-censorship
campaign will be a long term policy, but it was
in affect immediately after the mid September
incident, and I believe is still ongoing for the
meantime anyway...
Needless to say, the gutless cowards at
Amazon.com refuse to provide any information
on this.... as release of their policy would
surely cause a serious negative backlash among
tens of millions of active book readers who abhor
any form of book banning mentality.
Furthermore, even if you could reach a top
Amazon.com official to pose this question...
it's my opinion that they will outright lie
to you about their current censorship policy.
Furthermore, given Amazon.coms despicable
acts.... another question of dire consequences
has to be raised which should absolutely
outrage any citizen who cares about freedom.
Has Amazon.com reported any recent customers
to federal authorities? They can do that you,
know... I say sarcastically... not like their's
any law against reporting people... and in light
of recent events... this disguisting behavior
isn't that unreasonable considering there are
always a few sick individuals who think they
need to be good citizens and report anything
remotely suspicious.
It's also unclear, whether reporting customers
would be a violation of Amazons privacy policy.
I paraphrase their policy which loosely states
that they will release information if it relates
to crime or the "security" of their system (which
is basically the catch-all legal phrase which let's
them off the hook).
If you doubt this, I invite you to attempt to order
books on explosives paying by check or money
order (not by credit card). I'm not merely talking
about "Anarchist Cookbook" type pure garbage..
I'm also talking about real books for professional
scientists/chemists/physicists, and rock blasting
and other explosives professionals who often
supplement their libraries with books on,
numerical modelling, ignition theory and
combustibility, explosives chemistry,
rocket design, etc..
I contend you won't see your book, and they
will offer no explanation as to where your
check or money order went... It'll mysteriously
dissapear... they never got your order, and
will ignore all your requests. It's not clear
whether they will honor credit card orders
because those are more easily traceable and
leaves them vulnerable to fraud charges if they
dont cough up the ordered items.... )
---------------------------
I cross-post this to 2 of my favourite libertarian
newsgroups. As libertarians, who cherish freedom,
we recognize that business have a right to do as
they please.... but that in no way means that we
as customers who made Amazon.com what it is...
and contribute to some Presidents big fat paycheck...
that doesnt mean we have to support their policy.
Either we can order elsewhere... which is apparently
what I will be doing from now on.... or we're well
within our rights as paying customers to cry bloody
foul when we see these kinds of corporate bafoons
jumping on the bandwagon of "knee jerk" jerk-offs...
who think that everytime some crises comes about...
we need to crap on all the innocent people, in some desperate hope that
crapping on millions of paying customers might thwart a few bad guys.
Point being, I suggest you take 5 minutes,
visit Amazon.com and write some nasty letters,
or if you want further information... I suggest you
simply query them as to whether this policy
has any truth to it. I contend that the facts
speak for themselves... and even though this
policy of book banning may be short lived..
they clearly buckled to pressure in the month
after the 11 September event.
Even if you remain skeptical, and you think that
the book restriction is a good thing, and we should
accept it... then there remains the very serious
tangential issue of Amazon.com possibly reporting
customers in the week or two after the event.
The FBI has purportedly gotten an astounding number
of leads (if the reports are true...) Where do you
think these reports come from? They come
from people who are just nosy enough... that they
have the balls to screw with innocent peoples lives,
by reporting people as suspicious, just because
their neighbor is Arab, or just because they order
books which are not in the norm. These potential
actions are not only despicable.... but they may
violate the Privacy Policy which amazon.com has
set forth to protect their customers confidentiality.
As a paying customer, and reguler frequenter of
that mega book online reseller, this greatly
concerns me that they could/would report people...
and go back on their own policy...Not that I'm
implying that they are... but if they are banning
the books.. which I outright state that they are..
then whos to say they aren't reporting people?
----------------------------
That's my story... and I am sticking to it unless
facts prove otherwise. The facts have already
spoken in my favor to my satisfaction. After I
was promptly made aware of this potential
wierness by a close friend, I took the liberty of
verifying this myself because I take this kind of
thing VERY seriously. I had 2 seperate indivduals
whom I personally supervised make the order,
and saw that 3 seperate orders were placed
for such books. To date, all 3 payments
mysteriously "dissapeared".
Either Amazon.com are the stupidet most careless
MF*ers on the face of the planet.... or their policy
is just as I have stated. I've ordered from them
before.. I'd say they're quite efficient!!! Therefore,
I'm not buying into the mysterious "we never got
your payment"... 3 times in a row.. crock' story.
Blast overpressure
"hoffman" <hof...@northeast.net> wrote in message
news:01c15e39$914eec60$e63a...@enduser.3ComC...
Dirk Bruere
"Blast overpressure" <John...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:msJC7.129714$Pr1.33...@news1.rdc1.tn.home.com...
> who cares?? you dont need to be producing explosives anyway
>
Or talk about them, without a permit.
Ditto organic chemistry as a whole - 'sarin' - need I say more?
All books concerning such subjects should be removed from sale. All websites
containing such info be made illegal, and schools should have revised
curricula for chemistry.
Can't be too safe eh?
Dirk
Wim Libaers
Well, I've ordered explosives books from amazon.co.uk, and they were
delivered. But that was before 11/9, although I see no immediate
connection between burning aircraft and high explosives. There has been
some biological terrorism after that, but no HE attacks, right?
Anyway, even if they tell the government, I don't care. Only once did
customs stop an imported explosives book, but that was because I hadn't
paid the import tax. They didn't have problems with the content and I
received it anyway after the tax issue was taken care of.
Not delivering stuff that you did pay for is more serious, tried ordering
with some kind of guaranteed delivery?
--
Wim Libaers
Remove DONTSPAM from my reply address to send me mail.
ibidem
> Amazon.com, the online giant retailer of books
> and other fine merchandise has recently enacted
> a policy of self-censorship relating to books pertaining
> to the professional aspects of chemical engineering
> with respect to explosives development and
> implementation (in addition to stopping sales of
> the usual assortment of junk Ragnar Benson
> type books).
> acts.... <clip>
Actually, only governments can censor, which is the absolute denial of
publication. In that context, Amazon's refusal to sell certain books is
well within their rights, and to my mind, a responsible act. The books
are still out there; people who need the information (and I suppose
those who have sinister intentions) can still find the stuff.
--
Paul
*the Word Wizard(TM) formerly known as konengro*
Bob Kaplow
> Actually, only governments can censor, which is the absolute denial of
> publication. In that context, Amazon's refusal to sell certain books is
> well within their rights, and to my mind, a responsible act. The books
> are still out there; people who need the information (and I suppose
> those who have sinister intentions) can still find the stuff.
If the books are still out there, andthe bad guys still have access to the
information, then what benefit is there to a mass market seller not making
them available to legitimate students of chemistry? We're cracking down for
the sake of cracking down; it's not making our world any more secure, and
it's screwing a LOT of people.
Bob Kaplow NAR # 18L TRA # "Ctrl-Alt-Del"
Kaplow Klips & Baffle: http://www.nira.chicago.il.us/Leading_Edge/MayJun00.pdf
NIRA: http://www.nira.chicago.il.us NAR: http://www.nar.org
Timid men prefer the calm of despotism to the boisterous sea of
liberty. -- Thomas Jefferson
Support Freedom: http://www.indefenseoffreedom.org/
Trevor L. Jackson, III
Why are you drawing such a line? There are people who Know Things. They should
all be detained for the protection of society. After all, they have already
committed a crime against nature -- they have lost the blissful ignorance with
which they were born.
Stan
It's all part of the plan. You someday will be powerless. They use the
excuse of evildoers to take away your rights. They are slowly fading away
if we ever had them to begin with. Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of
Happiness.
Stan K.
"Bob Kaplow" <kapl...@eisner.encompasserve.org.mars> wrote in message
news:dQAprS...@eisner.encompasserve.org...
Dirk Bruere
"Trevor L. Jackson, III" <full...@aspi.net> wrote in message
news:3BDCA998...@aspi.net...
> > Or even know about them.
> > Or talk about them, without a permit.
> > Ditto organic chemistry as a whole - 'sarin' - need I say more?
> > All books concerning such subjects should be removed from sale. All
websites
> > containing such info be made illegal, and schools should have revised
> > curricula for chemistry.
> >
> > Can't be too safe eh?
>
> Why are you drawing such a line? There are people who Know Things. They
should
> all be detained for the protection of society. After all, they have
already
> committed a crime against nature -- they have lost the blissful ignorance
with
> which they were born.
That was careless of them, and they're gonna pay for that. Them are their
terrorist friends.
Dirk
Dirk Bruere
"Stan" <sta...@ptd.net> wrote in message
news:cP2D7.6434$VL1.1...@nnrp1.ptd.net...
> All,
>
> It's all part of the plan. You someday will be powerless. They use the
> excuse of evildoers to take away your rights. They are slowly fading away
> if we ever had them to begin with. Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of
> Happiness.
I hear that in the revised version you have the Right to pursue Life,
Liberty and Happiness.
Dirk
Blast overpressure
Bob thinks that he should be required special access and exception because
he is a "legitimate chemistry student"-
sounds more like a desperate suspicious individual who could be working for
the evildoers-
let's remember they are among us, posing as american citizens
"Bob Kaplow" <kapl...@eisner.encompasserve.org.mars> wrote in message
news:dQAprS...@eisner.encompasserve.org...
Trevor L. Jackson, III
Government issue happiness? Does it come with a life time warranty?
David Weinshenker
"So talk to me my long lost friend, and tell me how you are -
Are you happy with your circumstance? Are you buying a new car?
Does it get you where you want to go, with a seven-year guarantee...
Or just a hundred thousand miles from the days that used to be?"
(Neil Young)
-dave w
donald haarmann
>
>
-------
Remember the 3 biggest lies:-
I won't cum in mail.
The check is in you mouth.
Were from the Government, and we are here to help you.
donald j haarmann
-----------------------
It is difficult to make our material
condition better by the best law,
but it is easy enough to ruin it
by bad laws.
TR 23 August 1902
Providence, R.I.
Scotiusque
Whoopie or Mr. Williams or any of the usual suspects to come out
against this form of censorship. The fact is, most people who want to
build bomb for terrorism are too lazy or too stupid to go to their
local library and look up anything of use anyway, but Amazon.com
doesn't see it that way. They also don't have a real reason for
banning anything except to make points with the Fascist wannabees in
the Brady Bunch, the media, and elsewhere.
On Fri, 26 Oct 2001 16:41:59 GMT, "hoffman" <hof...@northeast.net>
wrote: