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Anderson Cooper Is Outraged That Amazon Is ‘Profiting From Pedophilia’

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Yesterday news spread that Amazon was selling a guide to pedophilia an e-book for its Kindle product, which sparked understandable outrage and a call for a boycott of the online retailer. Last night, Anderson Cooper joined the chorus of those calling out Amazon in a frank and candid segment called “Keeping Them Honest,” pointing out that Amazon’s defense of “supporting the right of every individual to make their own purchasing decisions,” is not consistent with the fact that they censor books all the time, namely pornography.

Cooper’s segment seemed to be just the tip of the iceberg that Amazon was headed towards with this controversy, but last night news broke that Amazon reversed their decision to sell the book, removing it from the Kindle store. Writing for Business Insider, Nick Saint reports:

Responding to widespread outrage and calls for a boycott, Amazon has removed a guide book for pedophiles from the Kindle store.

Amazon initially defended its decision to sell the book, stating that it “believes it is censorship not to sell certain books simply because we or others believe their message is objectionable.” Since then, coverage of the book has exploded, and the book shot on to the best-seller list.

Yesterday’s brouhaha regarding the guide book for pedophilia earned the book and its author a ton of attention, and some reports suggest that it moved the book up to the 96th ranked top seller in the Kindle store. As media critic and author Adam Penenberg commented via his Twitter feed, “Pedophile book ranked 96th in Kindle store, w 2,175 1-star reviews and many of the 46 5-star ones by enraged non-readers of book.”

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  • sarainitaly

    My first reaction when I heard about this was that it should immediately be banned. Then I thought about censorship and once you go down that road…where does it stop? But my final decision was that absolutely it should be removed from Amazon. And if I were the cops, I would go visit those who bought it…

    Is this author related to NAMBLA in any way?

  • ice queen

    Nowadays all you have to say is the word boycott or Facebook and corporations listen, they don’t want anything that might jepordize their profit statement.

  • sarainitaly

    ewe – i just watched the video – it should never have made it’s way to Amazon in the first place. It never should have been published. A *how to guide* for pedophiles…. the author should be arrested.
    sick f*ck.

  • lane

    Amazon’s reaction is disgusting. I buy from Amazon all the time, and I”m still boycotting it right now. It shouldn’t have taken days to pull this off the store, it should have taken minutes. Freedom of speech only protects the writer. Child rapists don’t get to sell their crimes guides on any retailer. Those retailers will always be boycotted.

    The story shouldn’t end, this monster has to be investigated. His name, photo, location should be exposed to protect any kid around him

  • disenlightened

    Anderson might now turn his guns on Abercrombie & Fitch and Calvin Klein next.

  • libra blue

    What about the publisher? That should be the next target.

    Anderson would never go after the fashion world for their inappropriate exploitation of children. He and his mother have too many fashion designer friends.

  • Frankly My Dear

    sarainitaly said:
    My first reaction when I heard about this was that it should immediately be banned. Then I thought about censorship and once you go down that road…where does it stop? But my final decision was that absolutely it should be removed from Amazon. And if I were the cops, I would go visit those who bought it…

    Is this author related to NAMBLA in any way?

    I think right now it ends with how-to rape children books.

  • Harry Flashman

    Can we say “felony” boys and girls? Good. I knew you could.

    A “how to” manual is generally written by someone who knows “how to” and wants to share the benefits of his experiences. I wonder where, how, and with whom he got his expertise?

  • BlackWidow

    sarainitaly said:
    My first reaction when I heard about this was that it should immediately be banned. Then I thought about censorship and once you go down that road…where does it stop? But my final decision was that absolutely it should be removed from Amazon. And if I were the cops, I would go visit those who bought it… Is this author related to NAMBLA in any way?

    Thank you sara. I am glad to hear you came to this conclusion. From someone that deals with this prblem sometimes perverts don’t need anymore help.

  • snatchax

    i don’t understand anderson’s point. he seems to be saying that as long as amazon is consistent, he doesn’t have a problem with this.

  • MiddleRoader

    You know I do wonder if they may be working with the authorities in selling this book and the authorities are monitoring who is buying them and then the arrests can be made. Sure Amazon will take a hit right now in sales and boycotts. But if this were the case and they were really helping them to get knowledge and arrests of the buyers, their good deeds will get them rave reviews and publicity and their sales will soar. So with that thought I applaud them and pray that this is the case.

    As far as freedom of speech, I don’t know how that can be justified for the sale of a how to book? Freedom of speech does have it’s limits.

  • nam

    @ snatchax His point was that the logic of Amazon’s defence doesn’t hold up because they do censor materials, so even if you could accept that sort of defence (which Anderson doesn’t seem to) it doesn’t work here.

  • MiddleRoader

    *limitations

  • MiddleRoader

    As far as the publisher. I don’t think there is one. It states on the CNN website this is an E-book. Which means its downloaded to your computer. In that case there would not be a publisher. I don’t think. Any of us could write a book and sell it on our website and or Amazon et al. Maybe the famous Gordon would know more about this part of it.

  • libra blue

    @MiddleRoader, “It states on the CNN website this is an E-book.”

    I wasn’t aware that this was an E-book. I guess they wanted to use the easiest method possible to get this material out to the general public by avoiding as many red flags as possible. Pretty sneaky.

    “You know I do wonder if they may be working with the authorities in selling this book and the authorities are monitoring who is buying them and then the arrests can be made.”

    That is an interesting point. Either way, maybe the authorities should keep track of these “buyers”.

  • libra blue

    @snatchax, “i don’t understand anderson’s point. he seems to be saying that as long as amazon is consistent, he doesn’t have a problem with this.”

    That is the impression I got. Maybe because he has a lot of friends in the fashion world who exploit children for profit.

  • MiddleRoader

    libra blue said:
    @snatchax, “i don’t understand anderson’s point. he seems to be saying that as long as amazon is consistent, he doesn’t have a problem with this.”

    That is the impression I got. Maybe because he has a lot of friends in the fashion world who exploit children for profit.

    The impression I got was that if Amazon censors porn that he couldn’t understand why this was allowed. Not in the way of being consistent, but obviously to anyone but a pedophile, this book is hugely worse than porn.

    libra blue said:
    I wasn’t aware that this was an E-book

    I initially missed that too. It even says it up top on this post. My first thought was that if this book was mailed through the postal service then the postal inspectors needed to be informed as they work seriously and are steadfast in investigating and prosecuting child porn that goes through the mail flow.

  • libra blue

    @MiddleRoader, From what I understand, E-books, can be self-published. It makes you wonder what other questionable things are out there in the E-book world. I am all for freedom of speech, but this is scary.

    “My first thought was that if this book was mailed through the postal service then the postal inspectors needed to be informed”

    In this case, Amazon is the deliverer of this trash.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Tony-Westover/1496648721 Tony Westover

    Yeah, I’m not gonna stop shopping at Amazon.com over feigned outrage. Their prices are just too good to pass up!

  • MiddleRoader

    libra blue said:
    In this case, Amazon is the deliverer of this trash.

    Well, no. Not as long as they were working with the authorities. Not in the sense of them breaking the law, as it would be a sting operation.

  • MiddleRoader

    Tony Westover said:
    Yeah, I’m not gonna stop shopping at Amazon.com over feigned outrage. Their prices are just too good to pass up!

    I’m not sure feigned outrage is the appropriate definition of this situation.

    I to do much of my shopping at Amazon. It saddens me to think that they would allow this. I’m not sure at this point if I am gonna boycott it yet. If it turns out that my hope that they are working with the authorities on this, is fact not fiction, all’s well. But if that is not the case, good prices or not, I will no longer give them my business and would hope others will not as well.

  • Nachi

    You wanna get upset and disgusted about something, Anderson?? Just look at all the Repugs around you.

  • MiddleRoader

    Nachi said:
    You wanna get upset and disgusted about something, Anderson?? Just look at all the Repugs around you.

    Jesus Christ this is not about politics, but there is always someone that will get that dig in one way or the other.

  • cmdrgmh

    This story sound’s familier. I recall a court case in I think 2005?? about NAMBLA and their materials, Books etc…. The Court ruled in their favor saying it was 1st Amendment Rights. As so long as the Pictures if any were digiital CGI in nature and not real. I know, I think it’s wrong, but if it falls under the law then thats it. I do think however that the coppers need to check the list of buyers. That might prove to be interesting.

  • Nahu Tuk

    Nachi is just pissed because he can’t buy his instruction manual from Amazon.

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