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Amazon removing books based on content?
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This above article was released today. What are your thoughts on this?
saw an article / letter this weeken from whsmith about removing content. Censorship is the first thought. Yes there are offensive topics but no one is forcing anyone to read them. Books should not be banned. too much of a slippery slope in who makes the call
I just read an update that B & N has just jumped on the band wagon & have put out a statement that they will refund your money but they will be deleting objectionable books.
I am not a fan of censorship period and why does a book have to translate to an action? So anyone who reads about torture and sex is a criminal?? If that is true then what about people who like BDSM??I also get sick of the child argument...children can see these things...you know that is absolutely true but here is the second part of the conversation parents have to deal with it. And when we don't we get kids who kill kittens.
Granted I do not find the idea of sex with an animal nor the idea of rape appealing but that is me obviously someone else finds that sexually stimulating and who are we to prejudge someone about their fantasy and what people may or may not do??
Ok after my mini rant I will say I respectfully agree that a manufacturer should have the right to choose what they carry. For example I would not expect to find porn in my local Christian bookstore nor would be up in arms if it is not there. So really no issue with Amazon or B&N carry what you think is appropriate. The government involvement is what I have a problem with...why should it be up to any government to tell people what they can read?? Can I also so I think it is a bit pointless to even try.
I could also see if these were true stories where actual victims are being exploited but then that is a totally different argument isn't it?
Bottom line is we shouldn't ban people from their fantasies regardless of how disgusting some may find it.
I don't think that Amazon or B&N should remove any books but instead should have a different section for these types of books. Like brick and mortar stores do. They don't rack the Playboys next to Sponge Bob. If they just start deleting books then where does it stop. Do they start deleting Harry Potter for witchcraft and Huckleberry Finn for bad language?
I think to many people find things to questionable for their tastes and therefore think it's wrong and perverse. I have no problem with Amazon not wanting to sell something. I do have an issue with people using kids as a reason to ban something. If we are going to take books off shelves because they talk about "criminal" and sexually explicit things, then I expect the nightly news to be removed from programming because my daughters have cried really recently because they learned that "a 2 year old died after his mother's boyfriend beat him" and that "a two year old was kidnapped by her father after he shot her mother, who eventually died, leaving the five year old child that wasn't his with the wounded mother". These were stories that were all over our local news and they only heard bits and pieces while channel surfing. It is my job as a parent to tell my kids what they can and can't do, whether it be online or at the park. My kids are allowed on certain sites and my husband and I monitor them, it's not hard to not allow websites from being loaded, so if Amazon is questionable to you, block it from your browser or password protect it. Also government has no business censoring anything. Censorship is wrong, I won't tell others what they can read or do and I expect the same courtesies from others. If were going to start banning things that have "rape", "incest", etc. then you better start with the Bible because it has it all!
"Censorship is telling a man he can’t have a steak just because a baby can’t chew it” Attributed to Mark Twain.
All I can do is facepalm massively. It's always about the children isn't it...well tell me, why is it a booksellers responsibility to keep porn out of the hands of children exactly? Why is that not the parents job? Are they also going to be deleting things like Lolita? What about The Twelve by Justin Cronin, that has a rape scene in it? Or IT by Stephen King, that has a group of kids having an orgy with dubious consent in the sewers? I suspect those will be safe because big name authors aren't quite as easy to push around as the self pubs.
Censorship is wrong, period. A company has the right to decide what it will and will not sell, but no one has the right to prevent anyone other than themselves and their own children from reading, watching, or listening to anything that that other person wants to read, watch, or listen to and can find a way to get his or her hands on.
Amazon's Kindle store offers authors the ability to self-publish their own books Continue reading the main story
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Retailer Amazon has removed several abuse-themed e-books from its Kindle Store after a report highlighted titles depicting rape, incest and bestiality.
Titles such as Taking My Drunk Daughter had been on sale.
Amazon and Barnes & Noble both say they are removing books found by technology news site The Kernel, but many others still remain, the BBC has found.
WHSmith and Kobo, which feature titles with similar themes, are yet to respond to requests for comment.
The BBC found that on Amazon's store, the search function automatically suggested explicit topics to users typing seemingly innocuous keywords - without age verification taking place.
Amazon has not responded to the BBC's request for comment on the issue, except to confirm that the specific books listed by The Kernel had been removed.
Barnes & Noble said in a statement the titles were "in violation" of its policy on content offered in the NOOK Bookstore and were in the process of being removed.
"When there are violations to the content policy that are brought to our attention, either through our internal process or from a customer or external source, we have a rapid response team in place to appropriately categorize or remove the content in accordance with our policy," it said.
Justice Minister Damian Green told the BBC "the government shares the public's concerns about the availability of harmful material."
Self-published
The titles can be found in the self-published section of the retailers' sites - an area where authors can offer their own work. The companies take a percentage of the sales made through their stores.
One lawyer told the BBC that the retailers could find themselves guilty of a criminal offence for allowing such content to be found without protection mechanisms.
"The directors of Amazon have a very difficult question to answer: why are they making profits from pornography which, on the face of it, seems to be criminal?" said Mark Stephens, former chairman of the Internet Watch Foundation, a body responsible for monitoring criminal content online.
However, many of the authors have taken measures to stay within the law, adding disclaimers to their descriptions, such as saying characters were "over 18" or "step-daughters".
On Amazon, guidelines for self-publishing state: "We don't accept pornography or offensive depictions of graphic sexual acts."
It adds: "What we deem offensive is probably about what you would expect."
The other retailers give similar guidance.
In July, Prime Minister David Cameron said the government intended to make it illegal in England and Wales to possess online pornography depicting rape.
But it is unclear whether the written word - currently governed by the Obscene Publications Act (OPA) - will come under the proposed legislation.
Under the OPA, publishers have a duty to protect the public from accidentally encountering material that could outrage public decency, said Mr Stephens.
A spokesman for the Association of Chief Police Officers told the BBC: "Rape is a serious criminal offence which has a physical, emotional and psychological impact on victims. It's very unpleasant and distasteful to use such a harrowing experience as the basis for entertainment and enjoyment.
"Investigating offences of rape is a particularly complex process because it often rests on the issue of consent."
'Censorship'
John Carr, secretary to the Children's Charities' Coalition on Internet Safety, said parents would be "shocked" at what content was discoverable.
"At the very least there should be a certain class of material that is adult, which ought not to be universally accessible," he told the BBC.
However, others felt that Amazon's removal of some titles amounted to censorship.
"We outlaw snuff films, child porn and, increasingly, revenge porn, because actual people are harmed during their production," wrote PJ Vogt on OnTheMedia.org.
"Erotic fiction concerns fake characters who don't exist in real life."
Mr Carr stressed that he did not condone censorship, but that the content needed to be walled off.
"If this was a Soho sex shop, I wouldn't take the same view. I am concerned that this is next