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Amazon pulls 'Pedophile Guide' amid outrage
Associated Press - 11/11/2010 5:10:00
An e-book for sale on Amazon.com entitled The Pedophile's Guide to Love and Pleasure was apparently pulled by the online retailer late Wednesday after shocked consumers across the nation called for a boycott.
The title, authored by Phillips Greaves, was published late last month, according to product details previously available on Amazon.com. It sold for $4.79 on the company's Kindle Store.
"This is my attempt to make pedophile situations safer for those juveniles that find themselves involved in them, by establishing certian [sic] rules for these adults to follow," a product description read. "I hope to achieve this by appealing to the better nature of pedosexuals, with hope that their doing so will result in less hatred and perhaps liter sentences should they ever be caught."
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The content led to hundreds of tweets criticizing Amazon for allowing the title to be sold and a Facebook page was created calling for a boycott of the Seattle-based company.
"This is totally unacceptable," one Facebook posting read. "This is not about freedom of speech. This is a HOW TO GUIDE FOR PEDOPHILES! Shame on you Amazon.com."
Earlier Wednesday, Amazon stood by its decision to sell the e-book.
"Amazon believes it is censorship not to sell certain books simply because we or others believe their message is objectionable," the company said in a written statement. "Amazon does not support or promote hatred or criminal acts, however, we do support the right of every individual to make their own purchasing decisions."
Online child safety advocacy group Enough is Enough said it wasn't surprised that someone would publish such a book. Selling the book lends the impression that child abuse is normal, the group said.
That doesn't mean Amazon should be prohibited from selling it, countered Christopher Finan, president of the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression. He said that Amazon has the right under the First Amendment to sell any book that is not child pornography or legally obscene. Finan said Greaves' book doesn't amount to either because it does not include illustrations.
This isn't the first time Amazon has sold material that promotes illegal activity. It is currently accepting pre-orders for the hardcover version of "I Am the Market: How to Smuggle Cocaine by the Ton, in Five Easy Lessons" by Luca Rastello.
Nor is it the first time Amazon has come under attack for selling objectionable content in its store. In 2002, the United States Justice Foundation, a conservative group, threatened to sue Amazon for selling "Understanding Loved Boys and Boylovers." That title is still available through Amazon.
In 2009, Amazon stopped selling "RapeLay," a first-person video game in which the protagonist stalks and then rapes a mother and her daughters, after it was widely condemned in the media and by various interest groups.
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