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Amazon Relents, Pulls Bestselling Pedophilia Guide From Kindle Bookstore

by Amar Toor on November 11, 2010 at 12:30 PM

philip r. greaves' bookWhen a book offering guidance on how to be a pedophile inexplicably landed in the Kindle's list of Top 100 Paid Bestsellers, Amazon suddenly found itself at the center of a brewing national controversy. Thousands of users posted comments of anger and disgust, and many even threatened to boycott the retailer. Through it all, Amazon held firm, and steadfastly refused to remove the title -- until now.

Late last night, Amazon pulled Phillip R. Greaves's 'The Pedophile's Guide to Love and Pleasure: A Child-Lover's Code of Conduct' from the Kindle Store, where it sat at Number 96 on the Top 100 list of bestsellers. Strangely enough, the book briefly popped up again, at number 80 on the list, before Amazon finally removed it -- presumably for good. Clicking on the link to Greaves's opus now results in a blunt '404 error.'

At first, Amazon defended the decision to keep the guide in its store, on the grounds that removing it would constitute an act of unfounded censorship. "Let me assure you that Amazon.com does not support or promote hatred or criminal acts," a company spokesperson told TechCrunch. "We do support the right of every individual to make their own purchasing decisions." Apparently, though, Amazon considers its image to be more important than its free-speech principles. And that's pretty disheartening.

Look, we can all agree that pedophilia is morally reprehensible, and that its practitioners should be punished according to the law. But guess what? There's a lot of other vile stuff going on in the world, and Amazon still offers plenty of guidance on how to get involved in that, too. As a private company, Amazon has every right to cater its bookstore to consumer demand, and to protect its bottom line. But there's got to be a way to achieve that without resorting to decidedly antiquated techniques.

Tags: amazon, books, boycott, censorship, controversy, e-reader, ebook, ebooks, kindle, KindleStore, pedophile, PedophilesGuideToLoveAndPleasure, PhilipR.Greaves, top

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