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Thursday, November 1, 2012

Reasons not to buy from Amazon - Richard Stallman

Reasons not to buy from Amazon - Richard Stallman:
Check out the daily Political Notes.

If you want to order a book (or something else), don't buy it from Amazon. If it's a book, order it directly from the publisher or through a local book store. Here are the reasons — plenty of them.
Amazon publishes ebooks designed to attack your freedom (PDF or html).
Amazon's on-line music "sales" have some of the same problems as the ebooks: users are required to identify themselves and sign a contract that denies them the freedoms they would have with a CD.
Amazon's shipping in the US is done in a sweatshop More info, including paramedics standing by for workers who pass out from the heat.
Amazon cut off service to Wikileaks, claiming that whistleblowing violates its terms of service. It had no need to go to court to prove this, because if you rent a server from Amazon, you have no rights.
Amazon squeezes small publishers. For instance, Amazon cut off Swindle sales for an independent book distributor in order to press for bigger discounts. (The article ends by promoting ebooks for another platform, the Shnook from Barnes and Noble. While that company is not as nasty to small publishers, its ebooks do violate your freedom in most of the same ways.)
Amazon doesn't just compete with independent book stores, it arrogantly seeks to destroy them. Independent book stores urge people not to buy from Amazon.
Amazon appears to treat self-published authors well, but it can unilaterally cut the price of their books. And when it does, the authors are the ones who lose.
Amazon censored an ebook that exposed how ebook bestseller lists can be manipulated (and therefore are meaningless).
Amazon was a member of ALEC. ALEC is the right-wing lobbying group that promotes voter-suppression laws and "shoot first" laws, as well as attacks against wages and working conditions in the US. Amazon quit ALEC after public pressure in May 2012, but I am sure it still seeks the same nasty policies that ALEC advocated and is waiting for a new tool to achieve them.
Copyright (c) 2011-2012 Richard Stallman
Verbatim copying and redistribution of this entire page are permitted provided this notice is preserved.
Amazon
Check out the daily Political Notes.

If you want to order a book (or something else), don't buy it from Amazon. If it's a book, order it directly from the publisher or through a local book store. Here are the reasons — plenty of them.
Amazon publishes ebooks designed to attack your freedom (PDF or html).
Amazon's on-line music "sales" have some of the same problems as the ebooks: users are required to identify themselves and sign a contract that denies them the freedoms they would have with a CD.
Amazon's shipping in the US is done in a sweatshop More info, including paramedics standing by for workers who pass out from the heat.
Amazon cut off service to Wikileaks, claiming that whistleblowing violates its terms of service. It had no need to go to court to prove this, because if you rent a server from Amazon, you have no rights.
Amazon squeezes small publishers. For instance, Amazon cut off Swindle sales for an independent book distributor in order to press for bigger discounts. (The article ends by promoting ebooks for another platform, the Shnook from Barnes and Noble. While that company is not as nasty to small publishers, its ebooks do violate your freedom in most of the same ways.)
Amazon doesn't just compete with independent book stores, it arrogantly seeks to destroy them. Independent book stores urge people not to buy from Amazon.
Amazon appears to treat self-published authors well, but it can unilaterally cut the price of their books. And when it does, the authors are the ones who lose.
Amazon censored an ebook that exposed how ebook bestseller lists can be manipulated (and therefore are meaningless).
Amazon was a member of ALEC. ALEC is the right-wing lobbying group that promotes voter-suppression laws and "shoot first" laws, as well as attacks against wages and working conditions in the US. Amazon quit ALEC after public pressure in May 2012, but I am sure it still seeks the same nasty policies that ALEC advocated and is waiting for a new tool to achieve them.
Copyright (c) 2011-2012 Richard Stallman
Verbatim copying and redistribution of this entire page are permitted provided this notice is preserved.