This is shocking. Isn't Jeff Bezos financially responsible?
21
Dear Amazon,
I am a heavy user of your services & an English professor.
I have found myself over the last several years needing to verify the publisher any book I consider buying from Amazon....& will look up a press if I don't recognize it. 99% of the time I won't buy an independently published book & have frequently just not bought anything b/c I couldn't find a vetted book [recently a cookbook]. I have long believed Amazon should note on each book whether or not the publisher is a vanity press/self published.
I realize this may eat into your own "self-publishing" scheme under your numerous "presses," but your buyers have a right to know if "Book X" was published by a press w/actual standards and editors or if the author is unfit or counterfeit.
Not that this is always the case..."Still Alice" was self published and, despite needing a bit of help from an editor, it is a great book. Buyers will buy what they are interested in and those who want to self publish will likely do so regardless.
However, if I buy a book on the history of the Ottoman Empire, or a book on emergency medicine, I want/need it to be written by an expert & published by a press that has vetted the legitimacy of the work. Here it matters and it matters in a MAJOR way. Not doing so contributes to the death of field expertise & legitimacy.
If you don't do something I doubt I will be able to continue purchasing my books from Amazon, or asking my students to do so.
56
And so Jeff Bezos sails on, aboard his mega yacht, against the tide of the river of sewage he created, borne back ceaselessly into the past.
53
It's perfectly possible to lead a full life without Bezos. In fact, it's easier.
32
And what's with the "pdf" versions of books that one can buy through eBay and other sites? Someone buys a book, scans it, then sells the copy, delivered "instantly" via email ... is this legal??
12
Wouldn't a first edition be a "single source of truth" here?
8
If only everyone commenting negatively here on Amazon’s business practices would cancel his or her account. Which I’ve done. We have almost no power left. Amazon just doesn’t care. Until they’re punished with loss of market share, they’ll continue to operate as a marketplace for thieves. While taking consumers’ money and those of listers as well.
And guess what? It isn’t hard to avoid Amazon. I now have direct accounts to order from reputable merchants. Most give free, fast shipping and better pricing. And they appreciate my business.
Everything else, buy local. It supports the tax base of your community, supports jobs and is better for the environment.
58
What if Dr. Seuss books were altered? Would that grab a kid's attention?
Amazon disturbs me, always has, so I go elsewhere to buy books. I've never trusted Bezos and his bucks.
16
many thanks for this-had no idea, altho I did recently buy "Colonel Sun'(a post-Ian Fleming James Bond) from Amazon, and was unhappily surprised to discover the book--with no indication--was written in German. taking caveat emptor to new level
9
"By George Orwell (1933) Edited by Moira Propreat (2105)"
16
Moira Propreat = more appropriate.
Or so they'd have us believe! Ms Propreat, ha ha ha.
37
The date next to Moira Propreat shows 2105, maybe she is not born yet?
Shame on you Amazon, once more.
15
This is terrible. But why did you even bother loooking for a real person named Moira Propreat?
6
What a great opportunity for used bookstores! David vs Goliath!
11
I have noticed over the last year or so that many types of merchandise categories being sold on Amazon are becomng heavily infiltrated with Chinese and Indian knock offs and counterfeits. This would be a basis for a good investigative journalism piece. In the meantime, beware of Amazon!
26
"Moira Propreat"? Did no one catch this, given that the text was supposedly abridged to make it...more appropriate?
16
"Moira Propreat" is obviously a pun on the words "More Appropriate."
However, I think "Miss Appropriate" would be a more apt pseudonym...
22
I stopped buying from Amazon years ago when it became clear to me their business practices are not reputable. That people I know continue to patronize this company because of instant gratification and cheap prices is irritating, to say the least. It is also discouraging to order something on line from another supposedly independent source only to find the item actually comes from Amazon. I buy from local stores as much as possible, but was surprised recently when a local merchant recommended I try Amazon for a product not carried in his store. Talk about cutting your own throat.
16
do nt buy from amazon, it's that easy.
7
This is a travesty. I already know that Amazon is frequently a seller of counterfeit or doctored goods. I don't realize there were also counterfeit books too. Despicable.
21
"What unites all these books is that none of them paid the author anything, which means they could compete with legal Orwell titles as a lower-cost alternative."
Would purchase of ANY of books there send money to George Orwell? No. Who gets the money? The publishing companies!
Notice how one book was not in copyright in India, but it still is in copyright in the USA? That's because Disney and company had lobbied US the copyright to be 70 years AFTER the death of the author or 120 years after creation. Unless we perfect life-extension, no author will benefit from this kind of law. When the US first created copyright laws, the copyright limit was like 28 years !!
If the US had more sensible copyright laws that focus on authors and not corporate owners, the other countries may be more willing to institute and enforce consistent copyright laws.
17
@t bo
Amazon should note on each book whether or not the publisher is a vanity press/self published.
Buyers have a right to know if a book was published by a press w/actual standards and editors or if the author is unfit or counterfeit & identifying the "kind" of press would help do this.
8
The copy write laws need to be re-written to protect the author's work from out and out fraud and to provide a mechanism for resale royalties. What I would suggest is a royalty amount for new sale and a lesser amount for a used or "fire sale" book. The seller of the book would post the fee in an itemized sale price for the book - that royalty would then go to the author or rep directly. There are several advantages to adding the fee openly - one, so the author gets paid whether the book is sold new or used, and two - so Amazon or eBay or whoever would know that the book was legal - no excuses.
Expand the resale royalty to include music, videos and art work - at the very least, a percentage of the sales price. If you buy the original copy from Amazon, then the artist gets paid - if you buy it used, then the artist gets nothing. It's time to include the artist in the resale market.
4
Amazon hasn't quite yet reached eBay levels of counterfeit garbage, but it is quickly approaching it. I purchased a Samsung phone advertised as new, but it clearly had remnants of another user's profile on it. Toys, clothes, and personal items are flat-out fakes. Some items ship directly from China.
I try to only buy items that ship directly from Amazon, but Amazon masks authorized third-party sellers who ship directly from their warehouses as Amazon. Which is why I am shopping from other retailers much more often these days. Amazon is taking their customers for granted.
18
A number of years ago, a stranger very kindly called me from the Midwest to tell me that he bought a book that was nothing but a very poor copy of my entire website of Greek mythology articles and even had my copyright information on it though the book title indicated another author. I was of course incensed and contacted Amazon. It was quite obvious that the seller/fraudster had copied my entire site.
Amazon told me that in order to contest my stolen copyright, I had to buy and send them five copies of the counterfeit book. So I was to pay $125+ to buy fraudulent copies of my website and put money in the pockets of the seller? I refused to do that, and instead posted an irate message on the book page explaining what the seller had done. If Amazon had taken 20 seconds to look at my website, the issue would have been resolved.
(For the record, a copyright lawsuit costs an average of $21,000 - acc. to Nolo Press's copyright - book, and the most one can expect from fair use copyright suit is approximately the same amount, which basically makes taking legal action for most copyright violations useless).
32
Is George Orwell laughing or spinning in his grave? You buy a book, in this case, Orwell's own "1984," and you don't know whether it's the real book or not, because Amazon doesn't ask a human to check whether the text is what Orwell actually wrote.
If some irate customer eventually does raise a question about authenticity, Kindle editions are deleted in the same way Winston Smith threw newly untrue news down the memory hole. Maybe the books were fake, maybe they were not, but who gave Amazon permission to do the deleting? I'm sure there must be a "conditions of use" passage buried in some contract somewhere that no one outside Amazon can find.
It makes me glad that I still read books the old-fashioned way: on paper. Gee, I even go to a bookstore sometimes and look at the book I want to read before I buy it. Such a novel thought.
24
"Machine learning and artificial intelligence are ineffective when there is no single source of truth..."
So Amazon just admitted that what has been branded artificial INTELLIGENCE is really just artificial mimicry with stochastic rules-based fine tuning. The solution we are running toward full pace is the reintroduction of indentured servitude. The problem with that is even the masters are about as clueless on what is going on as the "boss" from Dilbert comics.
11
I would like to think that at this moment George Orwell is laughing in his grave. Nineteen Eighty-Four was written as a parody of the BBC while he was a talks producer for the BBC Eastern Service in 1943 (during WW II). The implication of course, is that he was producing propaganda which was beamed to the peoples of India.
As for the protagonist of the story, Winston Smith worked in the Ministry of Truth, editing back issues of newspapers at the direction of the Inner Party (the totalitarian regime). Today, Winston's job would be much easier with an E-book. Copies of material everywhere could be changed at the click of a button.
As for the people of India printing their bootleg copies of 1984, they seem to be returning the favor. The BBC was, of course, a bit one-sided in its approach to the independence of India, which took place a few years later in 1947.
Oh how Orwell relished the irony of things.
14
Jeff Bezo's Amazon behemoth should be broken up by application of antitrust laws.
12
Recent acquired Agatha Christie novel that was totally corrupted. It was worded as if a robot composed it. I refused to pay and my money was reposted into my account. I am now avoiding e-books since censorship and distortions abound. Go to genuine bookstores! Go to public libraries.
14
@Jem Lucky you who can still read books in hardcopy. Some of us are visually challenged and must rely on electronic editions.
2
@Jonathan I suggest that you check out the large print editions of books- most libraries carry them.
5
@Jem I love e-books but I stopped dealing with Amazon and Kindle avery long time ago. I love getting e-books from the library and when I buy it's Kobo with my $$s going to a local independent bookstore.
When several classics went into public domain back in the 90s, Barnes and Noble printed them and their printed copies were horrendous - similar to your bad e-book experience. The format isn't as important and the publisher and bookseller. The lesson here is to avoid Amazon, not e-books.
1
Ray Bradbury predicted that this would hapenenndedd.
4
Capitalism is the source of all evils...
5
@Samer - Do you really think fraud didn't happen before the advent of capitalism? Perhaps you should go read the Old Testament or other ancient texts. The problem is not capitalism, it's human greed and that exists under all sorts of economic systems.
9
Of all the threats that Trump and his gang have tried to pull off to drag down our democracy and take control of this country, this one is the MOST egregious and dangerous. It is obvious what is going on by those on the right who support Trump, but how to stop it should be the discussion. I can only say that the primary fight in this particular battle in our on going war against Trump MUST BE the publisher of these books AND the distributor. I don't know who published 1984, but I do know who distributes it, Amazon. Both of them are the ones who profit the most (which is fine and all well), and they are the ones who have the most to lose, also are the ones who have the ability to stop this. I know that if I tried to get a mangled version of any book republished in my own image (writing and messages) and it was defamatory, illegal or otherwise egregious, Amazon would bounce me like a hard rubber ball. I would never be able to buy or sell anything on Amazon.
2
The very concept of intellectual property is under assault globally. This is important for literature as art which is really what this article is about, however consider the following. We have pharmaceutical companies being pilloried for pricing of on patent products within the 20 years of protection, and we also have online streaming of music and films that provide little or no revenue stream to artists. The pirating of intellectual property especially outside the US is a cultural epidemic that threatens the underpinnings of society itself.
11
@Expat " cultural epidemic that threatens the underpinnings of society itself." Really?
How did all those societies survive for the millennia before there were copyright laws? How did giants like Mozart and Shakespeare survive ?!
I'm happy to support reasonable copyright protections, but let's not go to extreme by claiming them as 'underpinnings' to a civilization.
2
@tbo yes intellectual property is at the heart of modern society. It maybe true that literature and art existed prior to copyrights and patents however modern Western industry is based on intellectual property. When there is no protection on innovation and trademarks then clearly you are pointed towards a Chinese style ideology. If all intellectual property becomes a communal shared possession then for instance anyone can do business as IBM or Goldman Sachs, Harry Winston etc. All inventions can be legally copied or reverse engineered, all works of art can be forged or misappropriated. Authors, inventors, business leaders and entrepreneurs no longer stand to profit fairly from their work. So yes I would argue that the assault on intellectual property is a very real threat to society, art and commerce.
6
I just started to go back to the library. I feel like a kid in a candy store! I can browse among the stacks and take home as many books as my heart desires - and not pay one penny.
17
I don't buy books from Amazon anymore on principle. Yes, it's less convenient, but then, who really needs the book to come in two days? There are so many other better options for buying books online.
22
Scary, to say the least. I write for newspapers and magazines, mostly for pay, and I’ve published a lot of short stories in literary journals, none for pay, of course, because that’s the way most literary journals work. I’ve written two novels and I’m working on several more. I do not really attempt to sell my novels. They were/are written for family and friends. I’ve sold a few and given away more than a few.
I took a look for one of my books at amazon and was surprised to find it there, with the correct cover pictured. Of course, they only have one, according to the page. I was more surprised to see Amazon had listings for about a dozen copies of that book from used book sellers. Some of those sellers were in foreign countries, which raises two questions: do those used book sellers really have copies of my book, and, if they do, where did they get them?
I’ve never sold or given away any books outside the United States. So, how can several foreign used book sellers have the books? Also, several used book sellers claim to have “new” copies of this book. That’s funny, because the remaining new copies are upstairs in my loft where they stay until I give away a copy.
I’m tempted to order one of those “new” books from a foreign used book seller just to see what they really have. Of course, I could also buy the “last one remaining” from amazon for the amazingly low price of $2.67 (where did they get that price?) and see what I get.
Scary.
19
@Frank I believe what sellers of "new" books on the Amazon marketplace are doing, especially if the book price is higher than Amazon's price, is they are "selling short" - that is, if Amazon's price is $10, but a marketplace seller is offering it "new" for $15, that seller will take the order at $15 THEN buy it from Amazon for $10 to send to the customer.
My recently published book had "new" copies available on Amazon within a week of my publication date, before any had even been actually sold. Hmmmm.
11
often I ordered a translation of a book and got a different translation. amazon apparently doesn't think it matters. dealbreaker.
6
@lezmaz
They mix the customer reviews of different translations, too, rendering the review section useless.
7
I get a lot of books through the library and a local bookstore. But when I do buy online, are there any precautions I can take against counterfeit editions?
8
@Clark Pixton
For new books, buy directly from the publisher or from Barnes & Noble.
For used books, buy from a real bookstore's own website, or find a seller on Biblio.com or Alibris.com who runs a real bookstore. Or seek out a seller on one of those two websites who specializes in the sort of book you're looking for.
12
@Clark Pixton
Local independent bookstores may not have online shops, but you can always call them on the phone and ask if they'll mail you a copy. My local store is happy to do this, at a very reasonable shipping cost.
7
@Plain Jane
Knowing who you're buying from is certainly important, but being aware of the book's history is equally so. If the book you want was published in 1934 by Macmillan, the only way to make sure that's what you get is to look at the seller's description. Knowing if and when the book was reprinted and by whom is also important. Fortunately, that information is readily available for someone so interested.
6
Amazon is one huge scam run by a guy who thinks he has no responsibility to society. It’s always the same argument: we’re only a clearinghouse, blah, blah, blah. Amazon should be required to make sure all of its books are legit. But weak laws means Amazon can do what they want. Which is nothing but cash in on the pseudo books.
34
@Mike L
We have to make Amazon responsible by choosing to buy at real book stores not fake ones like Amazon.
10
And this disgraceful disregard for the hard work of good writing is why I have kept all my books. I had a second-generation Kindle and the thing came in handy when I lived in South Korea for two years but most of the material on it was a pain to read and often had little to no regard for the language of the writer. So when I returned to the US, I took a hammer to my Kindle. I am more than happy to lug around a couple of books---the real ones, the ones that the writer intended for the public to read. Down with Amazon. Down with Jeff Bezos. Down with Big Blunder.
21
Another reason to stay away and not support the amazon behemoth. Not only are we destroying the planet for our conveniences, we are doing an injustice to art and to our minds.
22
Try your public library first. Free, easy, and responsible. They even have ebooks.
18
@Charlotte And the ebooks are indirectly supplied by Amazon.
2
@Richard However, the books have been curated by librarians and the author does get paid for each borrow. Same goes for the physical books in a library. If only the entire world ran that way!
8
@Richard That is not typically the case. Libraries usually use services like Overdrive and similar to provide ebooks, not Amazon.
5
Amazon "relied on authors and publishers to police its site..." OR 'We'll take your money. We don't care about the rest of this story."
28
Sadly, this is not at all a new thing. Charles Dickens visited the USA and complained long and hard about the US publishers who reprinted his books and broke his copyright. Despite his influence and massive readership his complaints were ignored.
Likely to happen again on the case of Orwell (Blair.) And by the way the publisher TS Eliot refused to publish Animal Farm although good, because, as he wrote to him, he didn't like his socialist politics.
13
And these guys want to go into the online pharmaceutical business?!
53
@Bill
What a frightening event that would be! Something should be done to prevent its happening.
Does anyone have any ideas how that plan could be thwarted?
4
@SC Reader
Answering my own question: Boycott Amazon.
Buy absolutely nothing through Amazon - not books, not even miscellaneous items such as cooking tools or paper towels.
Instead, patronize local stores near your residence.
9
@SC Reader, unfortunately, in many small towns & rural areas, there is no easy, nearby place to get many things. Where I am living, to get to a Lowe's store for many ordinary items, we have to drive 40 miles to a city in SW UT. Library is a branch of the main county library in Las Vegas, with limited on-site books; interlibrary loan is a pain. I just donate a huge stack of books, magazines & journals to the local library when I had to pack up and move again.
3
It’s amazing how we let these big companies like amazon profit in the illegal activities like stealing other peoples work and selling it.
Huge company with lots of technology and money, if they wanted to stop it they could.
All their excuses on why they can’t are lies.
27
Thank you for this. In these horrible times, it is a relief to know that people care about the integrity of the printed word.
22
It's not just books and newspapers that are so digitally fleeting. Lawyers and judges no longer refer to hardbound books of statutes and case law that are stable and replicated in hundreds of libraries. They pull up a digital page from the cloud, a digital page that would be immeasurably easier to alter than the records in Orwell's vision of 1984. Similarly for the Official Records that used to live in every Courthouse in the country. To be sure these documents are easier to research and (hopefully) less likely to be accidentally destroyed. But they are far reagire to hack.
14
This has been happening for yours. Almost 30 years ago, when I lived in Florida, I went to the library to get books to read to my young children (Treasure Island, etc). I was surprised to find them rewritten--dumbed down for pre-high school kids). Worse: when I brought this to the attention of the librarian, she thought there was no difference. I wound up going to adult section of the library for these books--or buying them. I wanted my kids to be exposed to the real writers, not to those who think they're improving them for youngsters.
15
My recommendation is that you should go to work for Amazon. Report back to us in 12 months how well you did correcting the issues you discuss in your (overly long) article.
1
Never and I mean NEVER buy a book from Amazon. Go to a bookshop or a library where you can make sure it’s right for you. I’ve stopped all online buying. Makes my money go a lot further even if it takes more time.
17
Or pick a reputable publisher!
4
@Jo Ann
Easy if you live in a country where there are decent bookshops. Most great books are not available where I live.
1
@Jo Ann I wish your solution were that easy. There are many solid authors who refuse to go through 'traditional' publishing where they are paid a $2000 advance and told to be happy about it. They have found that publishing independently (indie publishing) brings them a living wage so that they can write more books. These authors are professionals who do all the work -- hiring quality artists (also indies) for covers, sending their books through multiple edits (through indie editors), engaging directly with their fans through email and social media. Believe me, they are even more frustrated with Amazon than readers are, when they read about counterfeit books and unscrupulous 'authors' who cheat the system by stuffing books with gobbledygook. So please, consider supporting legitimate indie authors as well. Often, they sell their books through their own sites, or through their email newsletters.
1
Accidentally, unintentionally, unwittingly, astounding advances in micro-electronics (that, among other things, created Amazon’s Kindle e-reader and the iPAD Pro I’m writing this comment on, and e-books) have returned us to the world that existed long before Gutenberg. The world before the invention of writing, publishing, even literacy itself. Back to the oral-tradition that preceded the Classics, even the stories complied into the book that Gutenberg first published, “The Bible”.
Because freely-available self-publishing technology circumvents barriers to entry publishing is wide open. Anyone can be their own Bennett Cerf! Random House, move over or get lost!
Anyone can acquire manuscripts without actually bothering to buy publication rights. After they do, they can alter them as they see fit. Rewrite, edit, condense, expand, add new characters, subtract them, write new dialogue — just like movie producers do when they mutilate screenplays. They can vitiate any author’s published work then claim it’s still theirs or even their own.
Just like in Homer’s time.
How droll.
Our literary heritage will disappear in a “poof” as a vast trove of counterfeit virtual versions in the netherworld we call “the cloud” eclipses older paper copies; crowds them out. I never imagined that my old, dog-eared yellowed published copies would ever reprise their fair market value. But if cheap & fake keeps driving out real & good my old dogs will become priceless.
8
I use Amazon for a plethora of products. It is a gift of a platform. I use it because there are products available to solve daily problems or provide gift opportunities. And I receive the items fast. I think that beats driving around town, burning gasoline and wasting time - with questionable results. And Amazon's customer service when it comes to product problems is excellent.
We could condemn Amazon for many things - rightly so. But perhaps the answer lies in having a government that actually enforces laws - requiring all companies to abide - penalties applied. And kudos to the author of this piece for bringing the abuse to light. I will be very careful what I purchase.
As to books: I use a Nook, not a Kindle. Any way to diversify away from Amazon also seems like a good way to live. JMO.
Question: Does Barnes and Noble and Nook police forgeries better? Curious.
11
@Bob Bruce Anderson
I thought I was the only one alive still using a Nook!
1
Several years ago, I bought a couple of foreign language movies from Amazon to support my language studies. Both were clearly pirated. This was evident from the very poor quality of the video and the bogus packaging on which the print and graphics were not even aligned. One movie looked as if someone had used their phone to record in a movie theater or from a television screen.
Amazon was willing to send me return labels to send the movies back, but did not seem in the least bit interested in the fact that the movies were pirated. Because I was travelling, I couldn’t print the labels within the required 30 day return period, so Amazon cancelled the return process. I contacted them again, explaining once more that they were selling pirated movies—no response.
9
Fahrenheit 451 was censored by Bradbury’s own publishers in various editions before he found out and responded with a scathing condemnation in a newer edition. I recently purchased a copy of Feuerbach’s, The Essence of Christianity, which did not list a publisher or copyright information. The final page, across from the UPC code, stated: Made in the USA, Lexington, KY, 20 February 2019. I eventually traced the publisher to CreateSpace, which was eventually purchased by Amazon. Does this indicate that Amazon themselves is publishing books without acknowledging it, or is a private party simply using them to publish and sell for a profit?
13
Is anyone surprised about this?
If so, why?
11
I applaud your efforts Mr. Streitfeld and we must all condemn Amazon until they reform themselves.
I have Orwell first editions, have visited his grave and traced his journeys.
As a writer he was for me as good as it gets -- in the Pantheon and he earned his spot not only with imagination, courage and good sense -- but also because he could so masterfully translate into precise English.
The idea that ciphers after money are raping his work, to me, is as abhorrent as Vandals smashing the Pieta.
15
Copyright is a foundational concept for a civil society. A concept key to intellectual property and decency, alike.
A company that signs on to the new "Business Roundtable" plan for higher goals than profit, yet doesn't curate its products for egregious and extensive copyright violations of suppliers? (See NYT's separate article today.)
Come on, Bezos! That passes no one's smell test. It stinks to high heaven. Defoe would lump you with his hated "Pyrates" (doc).
16
I don't buy books at Amazon.
Never have.
Never going to.
Better buying second-hand printed books locally and get the real thing.
25
@Jesper Bernoe I understand your position. However, I happen to live in a rural area in the upper mid-west where traditional bookstores are rapidly becoming extinct. So as a practical matter ordering books online is pretty much my only option. Otherwise, I would prefer your solution.
11
@Jeff Laadt
I have to buy books online for the same reason, but I purchase from other sources, not Amazon. It's not an either-or situation; Amazon is very far from being the only game in online-bookselling town.
6
@Jeff Laadt Jeff, There are also few bookstores where I live, but there are many other options for online book purchasing. Most of them are more honest brokers . . .
3
This explains it. I've been buying these classics for my kidz (I love Orwell) as they've just hit their teen-age years; and I noticed there were all kinds of silly errors. I personally, will be much more careful. It's not enough I have to get scam calls from India every day, now I have to contend with the ruination of English literature......
11
Amazon and Jeff Bezos are evil incarnate. Recently I ordered something benign - 3 bags of barley for soup. When the bags arrived, I noticed they were labeled in Hebrew. Curious, I looked closer to see where in Israel they were packaged as barley is quite popular there. Then I noticed they were packaged as dried beans. Then I knew I had paid top dollar for something Amazon got either for free or for pennies as a mislabeled unsellable product. This is certainly not on the scale as fake Orwell books, but Amazon is crooked as the day is long.
22
Several years ago, I self-published a book (on the TV series "Mad Men") using Amazon's Kindle Direct e-book publishing and CreateSpace (for paper copies) services. I have a Google alert set for the book's title so know whenever anything's posted about it online. And I can't tell you how many times I've been notified that someone is giving away a free pirated PDF of the ebook version.
At first I tried contacting these sites to tell them it was illegal and they had to cease and desist, but they know I can't really do anything and so it goes on. I would think that e-books published by large companies have digital protection set up against this kind of piracy (although maybe they don't) but Amazon certainly does not help self-published authors protect their work. Based on how many sites have pirated it, copying the digital files of Amazon e-books must be dead easy.
Note to readers: Please do not accept any "free" downloads of any e-books unless offered by a well-known bookselling site or the author's own website. Not only will you be abetting piracy and depriving authors of royalties, but you are likely downloading viruses or malware along with the book!
16
@Nelle Engoron, if you must go the ebook way, try your local library. Many libraries are now offering ebooks on loan just as if it were a physical book. Much safer than Amazon.
5
It’s clear that Amazon don’t care about fakes, don’t feel any ethical obligation to counter them, all that matters is selling (anything), profits and if you close off avenues of complaint you don’t need to deal with angry customers who have been swindled.
And don’t expect to see any of this kind of journalism in the Bezos-owned Washington Post. It’s ridiculous he’s allowed to own media assets.
12
Amazon cheats. One day after my self published book (through Amazon) went up on Amazon the book was being sold as used.
Impossible and no royalties.
16
Like most social media platforms, Amazon is one more dot-com that self-abdicates from taking any responsibility for content. They have zero cares as to whether you buy counterfeit - as long as they get paid. The UC system is now suing Amazon, amongst others, for selling LED’s bulbs that are unlicensed. I hope it is the beginning of a trend to force such companies to police their wares.
13
I'm as shocked as the next literate person about the efforts of Moira Propreat (should she exist) to make Orwell "more palatable". May she be tarred and feathered and run out of town on a rail. But this is neither new nor unique. Thomas Bowdler (hence "bowdlerize") was already at it in the 1820s, improving the works of Shakespeare for family consumption. And look no further than the good old Readers' Digest Condensed Books, later known as Select Editions. While these are abominations, I must point out that back in the day Classics Illustrated both in English and in various translations was a godsend to many a schoolboy the world over battling with reading assignments, myself included.
8
@Jyri Kokkonen
I'm surprised that nobody seems to have noticed that the name Moira Propreat is actually "more appropriate" when spoken out loud.
Or do I kid myself, and that it's actually the case that everybody has noticed that? WDIK?
1
@Rob Now that you mention it....
@Jyri Kokkonen I'm just shocked nobody has said the name Moira Propreat aloud and gotten the joke. More. A. Propriate. See?
Stocking these "products" is simply unacceptable.
Not having a good way to report them is criminal.
Time to fight back. If they suffer from delivering then taking back fake books, that might be a way to strike back.
7
I was laughed at in law school because I advocated keeping paper copies of legal volumes.
In the rush to discard old-fashioned difficult-to-store reporter editions and replace them with digital versions, opportunities exist to literally change the results of Case law and statutes. Still seems far-fetched, but trips down rabbit holes continue to multiply. I see what I did there (smile).
16
Thank you for calling your attention to this problem. People who care about books have been haranguing Amazon for quite some time about these issues.
One important point should be made. These problems arise from several practices. One that you didn't mention is the Amazon's e-book, or 'Kindle'. The readers' complaints that you quote are all from reviews of Kindle e-books, which are notoriously badly put together. Amazon would say that they are the same as the original texts, but their e-book algorithms result in more errors than is reasonable. Texts created by optical scanning are even worse, and Amazon encourages 'publishers' to sell classics that are optically scanned. A quality bookseller wouldn't sell these books. Nor would a quality bookseller show reviews of the original classic alongside reviews of a 'high school version'. There's a lot to be grateful to Amazon for, but their bookselling practices are below par. They started out with books, but at this point it seems that they are selling books as if they were baby powder, smart phones, or lawnmowers. Too bad.
14
"Caveat emptor", especially on Amazon.
Thanks for pinpointing such a pernicious issue these days and in so doing heighten our attention whenever we find ourselves fishing for a book coined by a particular author. As too often, many versions abound then put us to the test. Just as an example, a couple of days ago, I came upon a book by C.Dickens, titled "Christmas tales" and, as I was about to wend my ways towards the cash register and purchase it, except upon skimming over the foreword, the idea of a slightly revised edition was floated, which then aroused slight suspicions on my part. Upon asking the bookstore employee who, past flipping the book around every which ways still came up short about asserting me whether or not the text was the original version, I eventually bailed out and opted for another title whose content was in that case unquestionable. Sometimes, when the choice comes down to read an author verbatim or read a knockoff version.
1
Orwell died nearly seventy years ago. Born in 1903, it would be unusual for anyone of that period to have any children still alive.
Copyright should protect the earnings of a writer and his immediate family. The extension of copyright for decades after a writers death is for the benefit of corporates, not individual writers. It encourages pirating and low quality editions and prevents many of the world's poor from reading great works
7
I'm not sure that's true. I can think of many reasons copyright should be honored if author and family are dead.
5
@herne My father was born in 1902 and I’m still here!
6
@herne
You can't be serious! My late father was born in 1904. My oldest sibling in 1939, and I in 1953. We are all very much alive, thank God, and receiving royalties for his masterpiece "How the Hebrew Language Grew", copyright 1960, copyright renewed (by me) 1988.
3
In contrast to the point of view here, I have found Amazon’s Kindle a nearly flawless product. Thanks to Amazon’s arrangement with most public library systems including the NYPL, I can borrow more books than I can read. I can also buy at very low or no cost all the classics I desire and carry them everywhere in a small device, for example, all of Shakespeare, the Bible and War and Peace. As to the self-publishing arm of Amazon under attack in this article, I find much gold among the dross, for example works on topics of very limited local interest. As to “counterfeit” copies, these can easily be detected if the reader opts to download a sample of the book before purchasing or simply reads the reviews.
5
@Michael Collins
If you're all right with staring at a screen all the time go for it. Thankfully the fad appears to have peaked and the rest of us may still be able to buy real books.
2
If Amazon isn’t going to provide a simple way to report counterfeits and then stop them, then it should be paying hefty fines to the authors who have been stolen from.
11
I try to never buy books from Amazon.
Use Abe’s Books to search a huge database of smaller book stores worldwide.
Usually cheaper and more variety.
8
@Lost I America: ABE is owned by Amazon. And if you look up a book there nowadays you will find that many of the listings (90% for some books) are from "booknappers," sellers who don't own a copy but are piggybacking on the legitimate dealers. Amazon loves booknappers, because when the consumer buys a book from a booknapper, Amazon collects two commissions (one from the booknapper and one from the legitimate dealer who sells to the booknapper). And in recent years ABE's customer service has gone completely downhill. The site has become a mess, whereas it used to be an invaluable resource. The decline is attributable to Amazon's lust for every last penny of profit.
6
These days, I can only read large-type on-line and audiobooks--which I buy on line, using large type.
6
For those of us with vision problems, the ability to enlarge print makes it possible to read at all.
I look with nostalgia at the print books I have collected over a lifetime but can but no longer access.
4
Boycott Amazon. It’s takes some effort but can be done. Saving money often comes at great cost where Amazon is involved.
I wonder what else is fake on Amazon- baby products perhaps? Do they monitor this? Do they care?
14
@Harold B. Spooner. Quit buying via Amazon as soon as I learned they don’t pay taxes. Evil. And, yes, it’s chock full of all kinds of counterfeits. And they make money from every listing. Disgusting
2
The article does not cover another important point about the poor editions available on Amazon. In some cases, Amazon makes it almost impossible for its customers to find a quality edition through the site. I refer here to books that are in the public domain.
Amazon has a first-past-the-gate policy for Kindle editions of such books. This rewards "publishers" of sloppy, automated editions filled with scanning errors, etc., over those who work carefully to release a good, well-formatted edition free from errors. Once a Kindle edition of a public-domain book is on Amazon's system, it becomes almost impossible, no matter how poor the "first" Kindle edition, for a better Kindle edition to be made available through Amazon.
17
More than anything this is another illustration of how systems ostensibly designed for some good can be corrupted and co-opted by the morally bereft side of humanity.
The abuses of technology that rely on public good behavior have shown that good behavior can't be relied on. The same is true in business and politics. Systems that aren't extremely robust in handling bad actors in the public domain are doomed to corruption and subsequent unintended consequences.
Our representative democracy is very close to dead as an honest representative democracy. Corrupted by some striving for money and wealth. It's not a surprise that so many other enterprises are corrupted by money as well since we have allowed it as a defacto "value" of our parties and government.
Misrepresentation in the mass media, sometimes outright lies, with no recourse to an objective source, is going to lead to a very dark day before the dawn of some kind of moral/practical resurgence of the requirement for honesty. If we're not all dead from the lack of it. Or trapped in an irredeemable Orwellian nightmare.
15
Isn't the real question: Why Orwell? And isn't part of the answer that Orwell has found a worldwide readership. In Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 people prevented the disappearance of books by memorizing them word for word. Surely, we must admit some textual changes were introduced wittingly or unwittingly. Let the disputes begin and let's not limit ourselves to lamenting the passing of depth reading. Instead let's ask what is emerging (and makes sense) from Orwell's works in surface reading. After all, if I toggle this webpage in my web browser I will be informed that Streifeld's article can be read in 9-10 minutes.
1
“There is no single source of truth” sounds a lot like yelling “FAKE NEWS” to me.
Bezos and Trump, like peas and carrots.
11
@Corbin "There is no single source of truth" sounds like a parody of a quote out of 1984.
2
This is old wine in new bottles. I met the father of a friend from college in NYC in 1981; the father was a well-known author. He proudly showed me his collection of unauthorized translations of his book from many countries. He laughed (he could afford to - I understand why those who can't are upset).
Anyone who has made repeated visits to developing nations will see blatant IP infringement in the streets by people who have nothing and don't understand or care whether there is IP protection. Yet people who want to provide sanctuary cities for people who come here because of poverty get outraged at people who stay at home and infringe. This is minor stuff. And there's actually a kind of joy in the markets where people sell the infringing products. I say this as someone who works for a large company that is dependent on IP.
But mostly this article is whining and Amazon-bashing over a phenomenon that is not new and is kind of funny.
2
@lazlo toth
Not laughing.
IP, contract law, habeas corpus.... Law is about civil society. Just because something is not new does not make profiteering from misconduct a thing to snigger about.
Cheating scales and miscounted sheep and selling stolen property. All topics you think of when you stand in front of the Code of Hamurabi or hold a cuneiform table to contemplate law as a simple extension of respect for one another.
16
This is horrifying, and I am sad to say, yet another revelation. How naive of me to think books are books, and whether we like them, or agree with them, or not...they are not alterable. I am displeased with this new world that I am finishing my life in.
16
@Leftonthecoast
i think it's the same world it always was. we're just waking up to it. there are still authentic books on library shelves.
3
Doesn’t Amazon give the name of the publisher in the product description? I always check on this and all the books I’ve bought there look legit.
3
While the entire practice is abhorrent, the reason for all the mistakes and changed text in the counterfeit editions is not simply sloppiness, it is often to escape copyright laws.
3
This is horrible. Can we not hold onto a tangible past? Weighty question.
5
Amazon doesn’t care as long as it’s selling products. I’ve notified Amazon customer service of several categories of products that have numerous 5 star reviews cut and pasted from completely different products, but stopped after realizing that Amazon had no interest in eradicating blatantly spurious reviews. I don’t buy as much stuff from them anymore.
18
What a great and entertaining read! Thank you for bringing this phenomenon of counterfeit and poorly printed books without copyright to the light. There is much to be said about the support authors and publishers need in order to keep literature alive and thriving in our changing world.
At the same time, one has to wonder when will a day come when a reader passionate about technology can click on this section of the Times and not see yet another attack on Amazon, or on Tesla, or on Facebook. Not only is the Times slipping in its commitment to fairness and impartiality in reporting when it comes to technology trends, the whole enterprise of waging a relentless media war against the tech giants is just getting dull to read about...perhaps such anti-technology stories should be moved to the news, politics, or op-ed page and let the technology page be about technology that inspires us, opens new horizons, and gives us new insights into the genius of human innovation and its power to make the world a better place.
6
I wish Amazon would get out of bookselling - what else is left to do to that unfortunate industry?
I have a big Amazon problem, which is, I buy from Amazon, because going elsewhere is usually such a bad experience. Hard to get to a store, they don't have what I was looking for, even if it was on their website, help is hard to get, product info is missing or incorrect - so often I go home very frustrated. I don't buy a lot of stuff, but what I buy is largely from guess who...
@David Greenlee
Try Powell's, the Strand, others.
8
@Greater Metropolitan Area, I don't buy BOOKS from Amazon... or food. but just about everything else...
1
@David Greenlee
Have you tried Target's web site? Home Depot, Lowe's, Bed Bath Beyond, all have great websites and customer service. Then there is Vitacost for supplements and natural shampoos, etc. There are so many options; give them a try.
2
These days, I only read on line (for example, the NYT) in enlarged type, or I listen to old favourites audiobooks (tonight, Jane Austen's EMMA) on my Nano clipped to my shirt. From Amazon.ca my most recent purchase was the Ant and Bee series for a grandson revving up to read independently. So far, so good...
1
I’m a frequent shopper at Amazon — now wondering if I’ve ever bought a counterfeit without even realizing. I think I’ll try to rely on my library and local stores.
15
I recently searched for books by Jules Verne on Amazon and was surpised by so many comments about poorly produced or highly abridged versions. Now I know why. Luckily I was not tempted by a couple of dollars' savings and stuck to a well-known publisher.
6
My friends mock me for being hopelessly old-school. For enjoying the experience of browsing books at my local independent bookstore, for example, and for insisting on buying my books there, rather than more cheaply on Amazon.
Articles like this confirm I’m doing the right thing.
59
With any luck Bezos will eventually hoist himself by his own petard and end up in jail.
17
People as rich as Bezos don’t fear the legal system and laws, they flaunt them with impunity, knowing that minuscule fines are the worst punishment they risk.
13
I have solved this problem and other related ones but not buying anything from Amazon, no matter how convenient or inexpensive it may be. Books in particular I never buy from Amazon, only from my local bookstore or directly from a reputable publisher. Unfortunately, it is likely few of us do that.
26
@Camille
I do!! I buy nothing from Amazon, I have a great rapport with my local bookstore and can get any book I like either through them or the NYPL or Queens Library. I feel bad for people who do not live within a reasonable distance of a bookstore or library. I detest Amazon, it continues to destroy so many jobs, and Mom and Pop businesses, and local bookstores.
22
@Camille. I’m with you. No Amazon purchases at all. Hideous business model. I choose to support retailers that police fakes, pay taxes and make a local economy thrive. And comply with labor laws.
2
I am the author of the book Sorry I was No Fun at the Circus, and have often wondered about the mystery of how my book keeps proliferating. I just clicked over to Amazon and there are thirteen copies available, new and used, one from Spain for $151. I sometimes buy my own book out of curiosity, and have gotten copies from England, India, and other various places here and abroad, and I never know how these books came to be. I open the packages each time and stare down at another beautiful book I didn't get paid for. It is a strange and disheartening feeling and in the end makes me feel turning over another carefully crafted manuscript is nothing more than a fool's errand. This hurts art.
146
Profiting from these unauthorized "editions" could reasonably be considered evidence of negligence on the part of Amazon. Unfortunately, the company has all the money in the world to spend on legal defense, should it come to that.
30
Funny how Trump and Bezos wind up having so much more in common they anyone, even they might have thought. Adventures in the Post-Truth World for fun and profit.
23
It's absolutely shocking that Amazon gets away with selling this fake merchandise. If their bottom line was to be docked say one hundred grand for every fake product that comes to light, just see how quick the problem gets to be eliminated. It's high time accountability really and truly became a condition of sale.
41
@Stanley Jones. Your proposal is exactly what US Copyright law provides for — statutory damages for willful infringement. But read other comments here about how Amazon ignores complaints from authors....
They’ve just decided they’re not going to follow the law and are too big to make it practical to enforce it against them. Haven’t purchased a thing from Amazon in over a year.
Like all ecommerce titans and the social media giants, the profits are all theirs and the problems are somebody else's.
This is not a superior business model, it just cutting costs (and increasing profits) by accepting no responsibility for the product.
33
George would find this all so depressingly amusing I’m sure.
9
An author who feared the annihilation of truth through the misuse of language, corrupted and bowdlerized with the help of a business driven by algorithms instead of human intelligence. What, indeed, could be Moira Propreat?
43
AS A PRIME MEMBER OF AMAZON WHO ORDERS APPROXIMATELY ONE HUNDRED BOOKS PER SIX MONTHS, I WAS SHOCKED AT THE ARTICLE ON COUNTERFEIT COPIES OF 1984. YOU CAN BE SURE I WILL BE MUCH MORE DISCERNING AND CHOOSE OTHER SITES AS WELL NOW, IN WHICH I MAY HAVE CONFIDENCE.
21
@David C.
Be careful, Abebooks, for instance, is owned by Amazon..
Search for: "book sellers not owned by amazon"
17
@David C.
If you can't establish a good rapport with a local bookshop, please order online through Powell's! Online is not ideal but at least you'd be dealing with real booksellers who know and care about their quality. I often think Powell's will be the very last bookstore in the United States if people keep shopping at Amazon :-(
16
Like most corporations in America, Amazon recognizes profit as God. Amazon will lie, cheat and steal in pursuit of profit.
30
“The editing was credited to a Moira Propreat. She could not be reached for comment; in fact, her existence could not be verified.”
That’s because she’s from the future, 2105!
42
Moira Propreat? Really? And he couldn’t find any way to reach her... surely he is teasing when he says that. Surely he spotted the More Appropriate joke.
42
Easy fix: Buy from Barnes and Noble! The $4 you save on Amazon isn’t worth it. Better yet: Buy from a local independent bookseller. We need to fight back against the immediate gratification of the online economy and get back to the basics, and the classics. Here in NYC I go to the Strand or Barnes and Noble. The browsing experience and general good vibes can’t be gotten on Amazon. Plus, Jeff Bezos is kind of a weenie, so...
71
i detest and have not patronized amazon since they screwed up a BOOK order for my soon-to-have-passed-away father in 2004.
i wonder how far into the pockets of the 'womens' magazines' amazon is, as they are always offering links instead of to real businesses.
no love.
7
I can't wait for the official Chinese "Ministry of Truth" editions.
26
Once again, that great disrupter Amazon, and its celebrated founder and micro-manager Jeff Bezos, have taken something beautiful--our literary culture and heritage--and made it ugly for the sake of money and market dominance.
44
Amazon is sloppy about everything except making money and strengthening its hegemony in the global marketplace.
17
Ironically, I downloaded, from Amazon, a book called "The Last Librarian" by Brandt Legg. It deals with Utopian society that orders all libraries with physical books destroyed. The government assures the people that every book ever printed has been digitalized; however, someone discovers changes in the digitalized books altered to suit the government's ideology.
I found it boring and never finished it; now I think I'll revisit it. Warning, it's a trilogy!
23
@Eddie Lew The Free Library of Philadelphia decided to reconfigure spaces within its buildings/branches to accommodate City services unrelated to lending physical books to its members. We have been referred to as free loaders, using the library to avoid paying for books. A twist on your comment, Philadelphia simply cut the funding for purchasing books and services for transferring them within the library's sharing system for borrowing. Clever. My hefty taxes now subsidize brightly lit book free meeting places for people to practice there right to free speech which is available pretty much everywhere unlike the books that inform it.
6
The author might also mention that the history of counterfeits is also as old as publishing, and that copyright is a modern concept. Further, what the author is discussing is not misinformation with malevolent intent.
4
This so perfectly encapsulates the current zeitgeist of our trump world we live in.
“It’s a beautiful thing, the destruction of words.” The destruction of truth, of facts, of science, of the environment, of just about everything that we’ve worked so hard to build up over the last several decades.
15
Come on, Amazon, the very LEAST you can do is guarantee the legitimacy of your products.
Maybe cut a little from the budget you have to monitor your employee’s every working moment and start taking responsibility for EVERYTHING you sell.
32
Don’t use Amazon. Period.
50
I have six books in print. In the cocktail genre. Most have been knocked off and are still available on Amazon. This is unfair. Should be a crime. Makes me really angry. I work hard for very little. Only to be stolen from by thieves.
Amazon can do better!
45
It is a crime, assuming your books are copyrighted (as I’m sure they are).
11
The reader should probably figure something is off upon reading that "Moira Propreat" edited the book nearly 100 years in the future (in "2105").
16
The potential for abuse is so enormous it’s frightening. Even if a certification system were created, how could we trust the certifiers?
7
Thank you Mr. Streitfeld for this important article.
Sure, a person could verify they are getting the right book by checking the ISBN, but that's hardly the point. Obviously, I don't worry about being sold an illegitimate text at my local bookseller (whom I am sure Bezos seeks to destroy).
21
Interesting but less of an issue than the article author understands.
Or rather the issue is so differ than the authors agenda. the author thinks the issue is piracy. it is not.
the issue is proliferation of mediocre translations.
I saw a film in the theater last week and the subtitles were full of errors and mistranslations that horribly altered the meaning.
I know the actual meaning because of illegitimate versions I found before official release became available. there are many many MANY works of art that are being slaughtered by poor translations. most of them legitimate.
And not by small companies either. Disney's releases of studio Ghibli films are loaded with mistakes.
it's not that illegitimate copies of books isn't a problem. it's that it's not the problem the author is taking about.
take a look on Amazon at official releases on Kindle or hard copy of some classics and it won't take you long to find all the complaints about the quality.
3
@Darin
Why is Orwell being translated from English to English?
26
"Moira Propreat" = "More appropriate." The copyright violator you cite is troublingly arrogant in his/her justification of "improving" the original product. Thank you for yet more evidence that exposes Amazon's business practices.
35
Is she really being arrogant? It could be just the opposite.
The inscription says the edit is from "2105", which could be a sly wink at the kind of transposition that Orwell used (writing in 1948) to come up with the title (and setting) for his famous dystopian novel 1984, which was in no small part about censorship.
Maybe "Moira" is signaling attentive readers that yes, she knows what she's doing to Orwell is Orwellian, and appreciates the irony. (A bit like the fortune cookie that reads "Help! I'm trapped in a fortune cookie factory!"
1
Check who the publisher is before buying the book!
7
One of my children's books is all over the planet. I have not received a dime.
I'm not DISNEY with a army of lawyers. I have 2 other books and not sure what to do. I don't want to use amazon or their POD subsidiary.
Re. deleting books on line, I tell people it can happen. They don't believe me. Give me paper.
18
Amazon seems to have forgotten that reputation matters. I learned not trust them a couple of years ago when I discovered that you can enter pretty much any book title in the world, real or made up, and multiple vendors would pop up, all willing to sell me a brand new copy for a mere $200. Is it even legal to sell forgeries and poor quality OCR scans as if they were the real deal? In any case, you can only get away with selling rubbish for so long before people decide to look elsewhere. Might I suggest a real brick and mortar store — one that still believes that quality and reputation matters? Powell’s Books sells books, not forgeries and fakes and they provide an online presence guided by their own experts. Give them a try!
39
It’s bad enough the internet has confused what a fact is. Now we have to worry what the past is?
18
@Sentinel98 It appears that we do! Some years ago I bought a reprint of a book published in the 1930s from Amazon. I also possess a copy of the original book. I won't mention the its title, but I contacted the publisher and queried the removal of the preface. I indicated to the modern publisher at the time after that I would not take up my suggestion that I would publish an adverse review after he engaged with me and made the following comment:
"Most of these books were written in a bygone time when people termed social, national or ethic groups as was acceptable at the time to them. It's not the norm now. Sometimes it's not legal now. It can be considered inflammatory and litigious now. Sometimes it can be imprudent and not so safe. So everything gets this – the need for it is sometimes less – sometimes an awful lot more I can't say I'm particularly PC myself however –
just as careful as I can be about this kind of thing. Many contemporary publishers actually remove this material. We don't, but we do qualify it. Please take my word we have plenty of experience to
underline its necessity."
5
Since the US Supreme Court has made it plain that corporations are persons, it's also plain that Amazon in the person of Jeff Bezos is 1984 personified. He is a morally and ethically sloppy, little man in the same way Trump is a "little, little man."
32
This is Pulitzer material. Thank you.
20
this seems to be a serious problem, but the person that pasted the first picture of a page with strange characters just needs to set her browser's text encoding to Únicode
4
Dear Amazon,
You’re disgusting. Anything for a buck... even this? You people are disgusting.
15
Avoiding counterfeit books on Amazon is easy, sorry people. Verify the publisher, ISBN and edition in the description, and try to go for the “look inside” feature to check its first pages. Only buy from the Amazon warehouse, so, if they send you a dud after all that, call and threaten to write a one star review with PHOTOS. They’ll send you the legit edition you ordered right quick. Of course there are counterfeit books on Amazon, it’s a marketplace for sellers. Do your due diligence, consumer. I’m an English Professor and I regularly order editions there I can’t find elsewhere from Norton press or Vintage etc. Again, check what you need. If you’re buying the cheapest, that’s your problem.
19
@ASnell
yep, you got it! ABE BOOKS works well too.
5
@Rick Tornello
ebay also.
@Rick Tornello these days it seems like 80% of what's on ABE is "print-on-demand" from India.
2
Nothing new here. The rules of thumb, whether buying mail-order in the 1960s, over the phone in the 1970s, or online since the mid-1990s, have always been:
#1: verify exactly what you are ordering;
#2: use vendors with good return policies.
Amazon usually provides sufficient information about a book's edition and publisher for a careful buyer to apply rule #1.
And if you get it wrong, it's dead-simple to return the book to Amazon, postage-paid, for a full refund. Just specify that it is either defective or not as described.
If enough customers apply these rules, maybe Amazon will become more careful about selling bogus books.
Oh, I almost forgot the "new rule":
#3 Never buy e-books. They're harder to verify and can be difficult to return. Besides, you can't resell or give them away. They have zero extrinsic value.
10
@Bob. Amazon is now in an agreement with Kohl’s where any item can be returned for free directly to the store. No need for packaging, or paying return shipping if you change your mind.
"The past is becoming unmoored and unreliable."
This sentence is arresting, and worthy of much deliberation about the danger facing literature (and all of civilization) in the digital era. And what we can and should do, as people who value truth. More than Amazon's business model is at stake. Human history can be obliterated with a few clicks. We can't give up on posterity so easily.
17
Fascinating. I'm guessing that this will settle down, somehow, but I'm not surprised that others have found loopholes in Amazon's lax system. Human creativity and ingenuity!
Perhaps there will be a way for publishers to recover damages, or threaten to do so, as the reputation of the works is diminished by these fraudulent works that Amazon could likely easily prevent from being sold. Something with teeth, I'd guess, will help Amazon take it seriously.
8
@Matt Settle down somehow? Perhaps, but unlikely for the better. Amazon cares only about $, not accuracy or intellectual property rights.
11
A number of years ago I was walking down a street in Brooklyn and came across a partially opened cardboard box of brand new books under a dumpster behind a public school. What was it? A brand new collection of paperback copies of Orwell’s “1984”. I thought at the time, “what a statement.” When I think back to it, it’s even scarier today today.
16
It's not just the books that are being altered, it's movies too. We've rented numerous movies on amazon that were altered and or edited. We thought since we are paying full price for the rental that we would get the original film. But that is not the case. It's scary to know that someone is deleting certain scenes from films.
19
How can Amazon get away by selling fake stuff without vetting it?
I lived in China and Alibaba took a lot of effort to weed out the fakes from their platform. Their stated reason was: we have to do it, because our stock is traded on NYSE.
Delist AMZN if they continue allowing selling fakes, because "it would cost too much to vet it".
20
@Lukah True. There is no reason to grease this companys coffers. They are the epitome of a disease plaguing the time, the age of massive monopolies. They are a threat to decent societies and should be analysed, fought and dismembered.
14
Any connection between this and the 8 or 10 scam robocalls I get from India almost every day? From some guy claiming to be Michael?
At some point we can no longer compete with countries that don't have 1000 dollars a month health insurance costs, per person, per month.
8
Sometimes the culprits to an author’s original intentions suffer the revisionism of their heirs.
Take Hemingway’s memoir of sketches: A Moveable Feast. It was incomplete at the time of his suicide in 1961, yet his fourth wife Mary edited it, moving some chapters around and inserting the Ernest-written - but lamented - final chapter he had committed to paper regarding the ending of his first marriage to Hadley Mowrer, having fallen prey to the seductive strategies of Pauline Pfeiffer, his second wife. Nonetheless, it is the first edition of the book that holds a beloved source of endless fascination for me, his devoted reader.
Now his grandson Seán took it upon himself to revise it as the way it was originally published did not sit well with him, given its unflattering portrayal of his grandmother. And new editions have been altered. See The NY Times article on the matter here:
https://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/28/books/28hemingway.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share
We also know of the possible exploitation of Harper Lee, post stroke, possibly being coerced to publish Go Set A Watchman, by lawyer Tonja Carter, who stood to gain some notoriety for herself in her ultimately successful endeavor, though many still harbor serious reservations about the book’s viability given Lee had suffered a stroke, was practically blind and was largely deaf at the time of the decision.
The controversy rages on and it is dubious to what extent Miss Lee’s words may have been altered in the process.
3
Amazon has abdicated its responsibility to make sure it is not selling fraudulent copies of books because “machine learning and artificial intelligence were ineffective when there is no single source of truth from which the model can learn”.
Really?
If machine learning and AI are ineffective, they either need to find a more effective method for weeding out the fakes, and scale back on their operation until they can be sure they are protecting the authors’ work. If I were to buy a CD from a music store, and found that it was a bootleg copy when I opened the packaging, would the music store be able to so cavalierly dismiss the issue as not theirs because their technology is not advanced enough to be able to check every record? I don’t think so.
It’s understandable that with millions of unscrupulous people with no regard for intellectual property, that this kind of thing is an issue in 2019. But I’m disgusted by what seems to be a “not my problem” attitude by one of the biggest corporations in the world. While Orwell’s estate may not be in dire straits as a result of this, Amazon’s complicity with fraud will have devastating consequences on the thousands of authors that rely on those hard earned loyalty checks, to say nothing of the Orwellian implications of living in a world where truth and authenticity are meaningless when it’s cheaper and more convenient to ignore them.
20
The way Amazon lumps together all the reviews of many different editions of one book is so incredibly frustrating.
Same thing is true of DVDs and Blu Rays.
Amazon reviewers may be refer to any of the many different versions, or even a VHS copy of the movie which you seek. (Often they are all lumped together.)
Sometimes, out of frustration, I go to another seller to find the exact version of the book or movie that I seek, but often there is no other book or DVD seller to go to as an alternative to Amazon.
9
Those who remember the future are condemned to repeal it.
6
We currently inhabit a dystopian fiction made reality wherein nothing is what it really is/was. As Cole Porter once sang, “Good authors too who once knew better words /Now only use four-letter words /Writing prose /Anything goes.
I’m afraid there simply is no saving the human race from itself and why continue to rage at the Gods our fists shaking heavenward when they’ve long departed and left us to our suicidal tendencies and our idiot’s self-amelioration.
As forever in history, the guardians of authentic fact and substance are a tiny minority that survive by sheer determination to preserve some semblance of what we might term: the real as opposed to the daily devastating hurricanes of lies.
It’s hopeless my friends. I said to a dearly beloved the other day how fortunate we, the baby boomers were, to have existed and experienced a reality sans “smart” phones (I call them idiot phones) and “personal” computers that are at bottom nothing more than evidence-gathering devices designed to scrutinize us, then twist us out of our privacy and sense of self to the point that not many of us can honestly claim to dwell in our own bodies, but are ambulatory pastiches of shattered shards of what once defined us and which we are now defined by.
Yes, how very glad I am indeed to have lived in the age of books over televised vulgarity, insufferable commercialism and the fractured attention spans that can only digest “reality” TV
What reality I ask you? The little one can scrape up.
16
Wonderful Amazon! It doesn't care about anything as long as you pay them. Truly the low point of capitalism.
15
@duncan
Walmart, 20 years ago="devil store."
Walmart now="our only hope."
3
“The past is becoming unmoored and unreliable.” - this has got to replace the millennial plaint of "what does it matter which oligarch controls our lives" as the definitive [sic] quote of this century
12
Amazon does not take reports of piracy or copyright infringement seriously. Go ahead and try to report it, and see what response you get. But then, they also don't care about the many shills that promote fake products or claim that hatred-filled screeds are great literature. There is plenty of attention about social media's role in society, but little paid to Amazon's irresponsible lack of oversight on its platform.
21
It should not surprise anyone that Amazon, owned by Bezos, sells fake books, just as the awashington Post, owned by Bezos, publishes fake news.
2
@BecauseTruth — the spelling “awashington” should have been a dead giveaway.
9
@Roy
Try and get in touch with their HR department if you have an-boarding hiring issue. NOT GONNA HAPPEN.
It looks as though people have no way of knowing whether the edition they're buying is legitimate or not until after the purchase. If they're not already familiar with the book, they may never know. Is that correct? What can we consumers do about the problem, other than no longer buying books on Amazon?
7
@Sher Wren: I suggest buying books from a real physical bookstore, or buying online from Barnes & Noble (which has real bookstores).
I highly recommend NOT buying books on Amazon, b/c that's just feeding money to the beast; your purchase is then supporting more of the same in the future. Vote with your wallet.
13
@Sher Wren
What's wrong with that simple solution? It has worked well for me for quite a few years now. And not just for books. Zero.
4
Imagine counterfeit "history" textbooks making it into our schools. There needs to be some kind of quality control
21
@Seanathan
Unfortunately in some places like Texas counterfeit books aren’t the main problem. It’s that the information in textbooks chosen for school systems is sometimes unbalanced, slanted, or misleading. The selection process for history textbooks has become politicized and has often been a tool of the far right. It’s not too far fetched to think there could be changes in some of the assigned English lit books.
17
@Nancy: Exactly! Texas already has plenty of completely unreliable textbooks in use, b/c they literally are re-writing history to suit themselves - and by "they," I mean the right-wing GOP.
14
It seems that online marketplaces like Amazon & EBay are taking advantage of the internet rule that portals (like Facebook & Twitter) are not responsible for the content posted by their users.
I saw this on EBay, where vendors selling unbranded product would label them with my company’s brand name, which was very hot at the time. Complaints to EBay were either ignored or we were told to find each item and report them individually, even if from the same vendor. Like amazon, EBay doesn’t believe it has any responsibility for the content on its site.
There was a time when these companies were small and the technology was new. There is no longer any excuse for a business to *not* be responsible for the content it presents to the public. They have the resources and the technology exists or can be built. They just lack the will.
21
@Avid Traveler: The reason they lack the will is BECAUSE they LOVE the money they're making on counterfeits! How did Jeff Bezos get all his money? Not ethically, IMO.
9
The mealy mouthed Amazonian line "No single source of truth" has an Orwellian ring to it. I live in the middle of nowhere and used to order quite a bit on Amazon, but no longer. Sure, they "treated me well," but that's a business model they can abandon when they've knocked out the competition entirely. I might get on to research something, but ordering elsewhere isn't that difficult as of yet, and as long as I can, I will.
21
Independent booksellers on Amazon have the option under their Seller Accounts to "Report a Violation." As the owner of Left Coast Books, I have done this on many occasions, because the online marketplace is infested with fraudulent sellers selling pirate editions and thrift store finds as brand new, but nothing is ever done. Booksellers report problems on the site, and Amazon is unresponsive. They have no excuse for the pirate editions and misrepresentations on their site.
25
@Simon Taylor: Thank you for providing this "view from the inside" (which many of us have no way to get), because you're confirming that Amazon is unresponsive at ALL levels, including when dealing with you as a book-seller with your own company.
5
I went to Amazon’s “Shakespeare’s Sonnets (Folger Shakespeare Library)” page and downloaded the Kindle version on that page, thinking it was the same as the print version.
Nope. It was a completely different book that had nothing to do with Folger. The first line in it said, “This Etext is an independent production presented as Public Domain.” Other than that line, the only text in the whole book was just the sonnets themselves. No introduction and no annotation of anything.
But there was one breathtakingly dumb feature. A click on any word displays its modern dictionary definition. For instance, the first line in sonnet 2 is “When forty winters shall besiege thy brow.” Click on “besiege” and you get: “surround (a place) with armed forces in order to capture it or force its surrender; lay siege to.” Nothing at all about Shakespeare’s metaphorical or poetic or historical meaning.
If this Kindle edition was put together by an algorithm it is a perfect example of Artificial Low Intelligence. If by a human it was plainly someone ignorant of what books like the Folgers are. The price was $0, as it should have been. (After I complained, Amazon deleted it.) If you’d like to know why it was on the Folger Shakespeare Sonnets page in the first place, you’ll have to ask Amazon, a company that seems to know a lot about moving book quantity but nothing about book quality.
16
@DC
You certainly picked a spectacularly impotent example to illustrate your point. Even 400 years ago IN Shakespeare's time, "besiege" WAS a term from Medieval Siege Warfare.
What gives the line "poignancy" especially today, is that, in Shakespeare's time, the age of forty *was "old age". Men were considered "Graybeards" and "village elders" by age 35.
Many words *have changed meaning over the Four Centuries since Shakespeare wrote, but the definition given for "besieged" is NOT ONE of them.
2
@Nominae Of course “besiege” had more or less the ordinary meaning for Shakespeare that it still has. But you don’t buy a Folger Shakespeare to get ordinary meaning. You get it specifically to understand what Shakespeare was doing with words poetically and in historical context. In the dopey book I describe that’s what is missing, and is replaced by an off-the-shelf plug-in modern dictionary, as if the two were equivalent.
You point out that for Shakespeare forty was old age. Exactly. And in the sonnet “besiege” is what time does, not what armies do. That’s information you’d expect to be in the book but isn’t.
1
I am a regular buyer of books on Amazon. Now that I have been educated I will buy somewhere else more ethical
26
I don't side with those who blame Amazon or Bezos personally. But I HAVE noticed that many, many items now are coming from Chinese or other Asian countri, flooding sites with knock-offs. They saw the chance, and they took it. Buyer beware. Do your research!!
7
@Ng Ho I do blame Amazon and so should we all. You do realize that Amazon profits from all of these fraudulent listings, right?
1
this could be solved cheaply by asking reviews to indicate whether they are reviewing the text or the edition
1
There are echoes of Napster here.
Amazon beats the responsibility for providing authentic products. Their consumers bear the responsibility of demanding that they do this.
How much are people saving, anyway? A dollar? Two? Lots of money on a macro scale, but on a personal scale, well, you get what you pay for.
Bottom line, if you want to experience art, you have to pay artists, or there might not be any around at some point.
13
I will miss my books, acquired over 60 years of collecting in used book stores. I will miss the natural wonders of this world. I'll miss the stories that make life so interesting. I will not miss that portion of the human race that deals in lies, pandering and greed.
21
Jeff Bezos, Amazon's CEO, also owns the Washington Post - lock, stock and barrel.
What if Mr. Bezos' lax attitude towards the veracity and sanctity of books extends to his perspective on newspapers as well?
Caveat Emptor.
5
Interesting note: this also happened to the christianity today book of the year. 240k dollars of fakes were sold by amazon. Im not sure what this costs a living author with less fame than orwell.
https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2019/july/amazon-counterfeit-ivp-tish-harrison-warren-liturgy-ordinar.html
4
Layers of irony here. Who's scamming who? It's almost an Elmore Leonard novel.
5
New rule? Online businesses, publishers, websites and persons are held to the same LAW that everyone else always has been.
Oh, to see some of these copyright thiefs go down along with the Breitbart professional libelists, "incel" harassers and all their ilk. We are way past the days when people excused horrible behavior online simply by saying, "oh these are the Wild West early days of the web, we can't have regulation and taxes and such."
The heck we can't. Throw the book at them!
13
I once purchased Henry Miller’s trilogy, “The Rosy Crucifixion,” from Amazon, bound together in a single volume. How convenient, I thought. Typos galore. Lesson learned. Stick with the original publisher, or one that’s reputable.
7
This atrocious behaviour by Amazon is absolutely intolerable and unforgivable. I am going to look far and wide before ever buying anything from them again.
It is way past overdue to stop treating the Silicon Valley behemoths as untoucheable gods of the universe, and finally and straightforwardly denounce them for being the amoral robber barons and fraudsters they have become.
If Americans are ever able to reclaim their government from the derelict politicians currently wrecking it, a first order of business should be full scale massive investigation of companies such as Amazon, leading to the firing of all those responsible for the sorts of outrages reported here. The Justice Deparment should furthermore prosecute all of them to the maximum extent under antitrust rules (which themselves could use some serious strengthening).
In the meantime, a massive boycott of Amazon products, services, and stocks appears to be the only responsible and appropriate response.
13
When you search for a particular item on Amazon it is often a needle in a haystack affair. You sift through the item's reviews, wondering if the item is really a legitimate product . Many times it amounts to which Chinese knock off is the best pig in a poke. But books shouldn't in this brave new world of confusion.
4
did i miss the part where the author, tells us how not to be duped by these fake productions? this article seemed to bash an e-commerce business really bad, just that i didnt see the part of it to help us buy the real deals........thanks
6
@keith: Go to an actual physical bookstore (NOT owned by Amazon), and make your purchases there. That's how you buy "the real deal."
7
I am small publisher. Amazon sold pirate copies of one of my books for six months. I had to threaten to sue them. They finally took it down but never paid me for the 40 copies sold at $72 a copy.
20
@Bob: That is outrageous. I'd take them to small-claims court just to aggravate them. Small claims court is for amounts up to $3,000 or $5,000 (depending on where you live in NY), so you would qualify either way.
7
This is more evidence of how the digital universe corrupts what was once reality. I suspect that Amazon cannot police what it sells because it has become too big to manage, like Facebook.
I never, ever shop on Amazon but I do shop online all of the time, using direct sellers, not a huge middleman I do not need. We all must think before we buy and realize that everything we do has a consequence.
13
The government needs to shut down Amazon for selling fakes. The government has the authority to do that (remember bulldozers crunching the fake handbags made in China?).
I say shut the entire Amazon retail operation down for six months. After they learn a lesson, they'll be responsible for their actions.
Why do we allow internet firms to not take responsibility for their criminal actions?
Amazon killed your local bookstore. The American landscape used to have thousands of bookstores. If I was traveling anywhere and I saw a bookstore open, I would stop. Now I never have reason to stop in a town. That used to be my excuse to stop. I will never like Amazon for what they did to my country. Sorry folks.
32
@Sirlar
I too would do the same on vacations. It was always a noel experience (pun intended) meeting the owners talking about a book or two and other would join in. Now what just B&N and an occasional used book store. BTW Used Book? I can understand a misused book category, but a used book? What does the print fade after each reading? I have that idea in one of my science fiction outlines now.
2
It's not just the books. Amazon sells many fakes, knock-offs, etc. I know of a person who bought LED Christmas lights to decorate his boat. The lights were not UL approved, wound up catching on fire and causing over $30k in damage.
With Amazon it is truly buyer beware, because Jeff Bezos doesn't care.
29
Amazon must have a warehouse full of techies that put any piece of written garbage into Amazon Unlimited titles. The list if illiterate and awful writing grows like a virus to ensnare gullible readers into a miasma of junk.
Purchase books from reputable publishers. The cost is higher - not free - not loanable - but it’s not rubbish by hacks looking to make a fast buck. Amazon Unlimited books are written by those that just could not tolerate more rejection slips - after being told by their creative writing teachers that they showed - promise...
Caveat emptor...
12
@Dry Socket
You probably mean "Kindle Unlimited" e-books. I don't think anyone would bother to counterfeit these self-published, throwaway loss leaders.
1
Amazon is absolutely shameless in its promotion of ripped off books and counterfeit merchandise. Amazon knows it could crackdown on the fakes and imposters but it simply chooses not to. I own a Kindle and only use it to download e-books from my local library. If I want to purchase a hardcover book, I go a local bookstore. I refuse to put one cent into Amazon’s pocket as it continues its current practices regarding fake merchandise.
17
This doesn't surprise me, I lived in Kolkata for 12 years and within a few days within a book coming out it would be available at the Park Street book store for a few dollars. It was only a matter of years and time until they began to show up being sold here and sadly to say with poorly worded sentences. My own book is 20 years old and while I haven't sold a copy in more than 10 years it is available through Amazon sellers who list it as new for $35. I am often asked where these books come from, I think I might have a guess now.
11
@Dr Cherie
You can find all sorts of obscure books in College St Calcutta as you probably know. I have Nepalese folk tales and Tagore copies from there. A few dollars there is quite a bit and fair enough that such scholastic people can get books they will actually read for an affordable amount. Trump would love College St (kidding). My favourite restaurant in Kolkata is in Park St where that book store is. One Step Up has unforgettable paneer. You bring back memories with your comment. There is a street there called European Asylum Lane- speaking of Trump. West Bengal is very socialist. Socialist and scholastic. Donald would absolutely love it.
2
@Bob Guthrie Aww I spent 12 years there and became devoted to Tagore. My daughter was born there and is now back with the US State Department so I get to visit frequently. It is a joy, I also loved Park Street when Quality was the only place with AC during the 70's on very hot and muggy nights. I can say whatever I want about knock off copies but for me it was like a gift from heaven to get books straight from the press. It is better now as Socialist than it was when it was full blown Marxist under Jyoti Basu. He had no fondness at all for me! Don Jr. was recently there planning a Trump Tower and was received as a "son." according to local press. Nice to meet you on here.
Why on earth would anyone buy a book from Amazon if it's carried by Better World Books? It is always my first stop.
11
@tiowally
Puh-lease. Independent bookstores hate Better World Books. It pretends to be a charitable organization, but isn't. I'd like to see their accounts, just to see how much of their profit goes back into charitable concerns. By pennying books to death, these people have put many an independent bookseller out of business.
3
Meanwhile Bezos signs off on toothless new principles of the Business Roundtable indicating some burgeoning interest in corporate responsibility. I guess we’ll see!
9
No surprises here. Amazon makes money, authors lose out. The digital revolution has wiped out the earnings of writers and musicians. The first now make most of their money from teaching and lecturing, the second from touring. Those who own Amazon and Apple stock profit, but the creatives lose big time.
10
If I am not mistaken, the actual line from Animal Farm is: "Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy. Whatever goes upon four legs, or has wings, is a friend. No animal shall wear clothes."
6
@Timothy James Lambert
Yes so true. I love Orwell. 1984 has come true given the way advertisers track you online. Big Brother doesn't have to watch you but should he decide to, we have given him all the info he could possibly desire. Big Brother turned out to be prophetic. Who knew it would be called Facebook?
American TS Eliot was an editor at Faber and Faber and initially knocked back Animal Farm because people did not want to offend Russia. The Road to Wigan Pier is a tough read... ugh... but great anyway. Burmese Days is a devastating excoriation of colonialism- Orwell was a policeman there during the Raj I believe. Its a wonder he gets a mention n America (famously paranoid about socialism though willing to elect a fascist) because George fought for the "evil" left in the Spanish Civil War. However, being nuanced, he was also quite critical of the left which is not a monolith. Ah nuance! Anybody else remember that?
6
@Bob Guthrie
Yes, ever since I read Orwell as a teenager I thought he was one of the more honest and direct writers around. I think I have read everything he ever wrote that is in print (legal print that is, not the fakes discussed here).
1
Sooner or later, Amazon will facilitate the sale of something counterfeit that kills people. Could be a supplement, could be a chemical, could be a smoke detector that doesn’t detect smoke. The selection of fake and inferior goods seems to grow, even as the company claims to have made strides in combating it. Trust is the foundation of any well functioning marketplace. It’s shocking that a company with such a customer-centric focus has allowed this to get out of control.
32
Amazon has always been very good to me.
When something ordered was lousy, or just didn't fit, they took it back for free, and gave a rapid refund.
If you do a quick Google search, you can find the customer service number, or you can just look on the Amazon web site for Support. And they really do have two or three types of support. Bezos and Amazon have enormously helped commerce. If you don't like the stuff, send it back and complain.
2
I had a run of bad service with Amazon. I contacted them &, after years of spending hundreds or thousands of $ with them annually, their off-shore call center rep offered me a $5 credit to show me how very sorry they were for the many inconveniences they caused & how much they appreciated my business. I closed my account after that & have gotten along just fine without them--saved some $ & reduced my carbon footprint. You've been lucky thus far. They are too big to care.
11
@William Powell with respect--it's not just about you and me. So far I've had good luck with Amazon--decent books at good prices--but I'm absolutely appalled that they would treat the original authors, the authentic publishers, and other readers who have been unlucky enough to unwittingly get a counterfeit, in this unconscionable fashion. By refusing to oversee and prevent counterfeit copies, Amazon is perpetrating fraud, for bigger profits. This cannot stand.
16
"The company added that machine learning and artificial intelligence were ineffective when there is no single source of truth from which the model can learn."
This is a reason for corporate incompetence? That the data do not fit the 'machine learning' model?
There are so many erroneous assumptions here. The term 'Artificial Intelligence' seems to have conned even Jeff Bezos into thinking machines can do that too. It is a very misleading term.
In any event, Amazon,when your tool for dealing with data fails, you might consider changing the tool, rather than blaming the data.
25
Not sure if this is mainly a Amazon US problem as I live in the UK and have a substantial kindle library and have not detected any problems.
Also surprised to hear of poor after service over these issues. Without exception every time I have been in contact with customer service (10 years now) they have been exemplary, Possibly due to the call centre being located in Scotland....not sure if I’d get the same attention to detail if it was centred in London.
I also buy everything by credit card so whenever there are any problems I can stop the payment.
3
You missed the point of the article, methinks.
How do you know your kindle-based library doesn't have some altered books in it? Or copyright violations?
You don't, without a lot of checking. That is part of the article's point, no matter what country you live in. Getting a prompt refund for something that should not happen in the first place, like a bootlegged and messed-up book, is not good customer service!
8
Actually did not miss the point. As an avid library member it is not only kindle books I read, and many of the kindle editions are of classics I read many years ago and know very well. George Orwell being one of my favourites.
I am amazed at the OTT reaction to this issue, I thought brits and Brexit were the epitome of the angry mob, it would appear not. I tend to put things into honest perspective and merely express opinions of my personal experience (in this case Amazon).
The Times comments are becoming increasingly partisan, not the best way to view or act in order to counteract the lies and misinformation we are bombarded with. Jumping on the band wagon with ones righteous indignation is like fighting fire with fire.
1
Okay, so not quite the same subject, but I got scammed by accidentally buying the Dershowitz-Introduced copy of the Mueller report. It does make a visual difference to see 10 lines redacted as "10 lines redacted..." in one line versus actually seeing the presence of all 10 lines blanked out.
6
Amazon AI is probably churning away at all these comments and changing all the negative comments towards Amazon into glowing reviews of Amazon greatness and largesse.
20
This has very little to do with the internet and everything to do with human nature. From the existence of fake religious relics in medieval times to fake 19th century paintings modeled on works or artist one never would have though would be copied (which i witnessed working at a major auction house) the category of fake is as real as humanity itself.
11
Yep, I hesitate to buy anything off of Amazon anymore. It’s a shame, especially considering that in all this area, there are but a couple of book stores left.
7
@SY AbeBooks online is a shared worldwide digital inventory of new and second-hand books, posted by the various booksellers themselves. You can search the database and browse for the copy, edition, condition etc you want and pay the listed seller for the book plus shipping charge. It arrives in the mail a few days later.
Stick with paper and a reputed publisher. Orwell deserves the $!
21
@FirstThingsFirst
He is dead. I hope he is anyway because they buried him.
8
No this is not a complex issue. Theft is theft.
26
The clustered and combined reviews occur elsewhere for other products to the degree that they are useless. In fact many reviews are reviews of the reviews urging potential buyers to disregard them.
7
Irritating, but hardly the apocalypse.
1
@J
Yes, isn’t this an old problem? Maybe in the 20th century, with copyright laws in force in the West, it was not, but before that..? Pirated editions were certainly common for centuries after the printing presses started running.
So now, as with everything else, it’s gone global.
1
To me it appears Jeff Bezos will do anything to load up his coffers.
16
Simple solution:
Don't buy anything from Amazon.
14
@Jonathan Katz LOL Jonathan. How's that gonna work? Like FB, and this comment box, we are all addicted. Worse than Pavlovs dogs.
2
@brenda
Easy.
Don't go on Amazon.
Unsubscribe from any emails related to Amazon so that you're not even tempted.
Pretty much anything that Amazon sells can be bought elsewhere and you'll probably get a better customer service experience anyways.
8
@brenda I have somehow managed to survive since my last Amazon deliver in December 2012. And I've found, living in Southern California, it's not too hard to find books, groceries, or almost anything else one might need, in close proximity. I also try to make purchases from actual employees at cash registers rather than self-checkout. All of which takes more time, but convenience has tradeoffs.
I've also stopped posting on FB.
Admittedly, I still enjoy the NYT and the comments section.
16
When you buy a book, buy it from a known publisher or a used book with the imprint of a known publisher. This should be common sense.
29
@bordercollies rule
That's not so easy anymore. There are a lot of established writers who will go "hybrid." They'll have a couple books published by traditional publishers and a couple under their own name.
For example, all the digital versions of Harry Potter are published under JK Rowling's personal imprint.
It's especially common with younger writers, like Rupi Kaur, who's originally self-published book was the second most sold book of the year in 2017.
There are books that used to be self published but got sold to traditional publishers, like "Wool" and "The Martian," and there are a lot of books that used to be traditionally published but are now self published through Amazon.
Bottom line is, all those lines are blurred.
4
Before buying any ebook on Amazon download a sample. You can usually tell very quickly if the book is OCR-ed junk or not.
13
The charlatans doing this scan the current correct version (or maybe another incorrect version) and do not even proof the pages after they are scanned. Often scanned type and punctuation does not come out the same, and you have to check every single page and make corrections as appropriate. This is also true for hard returns, which sometimes appear making a line half as long as it should be. Clearly these con artists are not doing this. It especially bothers me that Amazon allows this. It's just flat out wrong.
5
Amazon often mixes up products in its reviews. Say you’re looking at a toaster - and you find reviews of a microwave. Or a pot. Not one, but enough to render the reviews meaningless. There does not seem to be a way to report this.
I once left a 3 star review calling out this problem on an item - and Amazon’s reviewer rejected it and would not post it.
Amazon has long contended that quality control of products is outsourced to its reviewers. Maybe not so much
11
@A.
One of the many, many reasons I stopped shopping on Amazon. The reviews are never for the product you're looking at, they mis-ship things (ordered a belt buckle for a costume and got two boxes of cheap tea, for example), packing is substandard, items you order look beautiful on the website but are actually extremely poor quality, etc.
Maybe I just have bad luck, but I've had far, far more disappointing purchases on Amazon than successful ones.
6
@K Wow! Sorry to hear that, but surprising. We have been using Amazon for over 20 years for a multitude of different items, from books to electronics to toiletries, and have had very good luck.
1
Guess I should be glad I am too poor to buy all the books I read. Thanks to my grandpa I was introduced to the library at age six and only own bookshelf 8X6.
7
@caharper I agree. Our library, and its network (OCLN) is a treasure. The network shares printed books and it also offers e-versions. The only problem is that serious authors cannot survive without sales. I was shocked to read that one of my favorite writers, Adrian McKinty, almost gave up writing, but happily he sold the film rights to his latest book (The Chain) and it was a game changer. I had read all of his previous books, and there were more than 12 very fine novels, and simply assumed that he was doing well. BTW, I am NOT Adrian, but I am a huge fan.
3
This problem at Amazon is not limited to books but extends to other products as well--clothing, colognes and perfumes, tools, flashlights, handbags, towels and linens, and other items. If you try to find a small high intensity flashlight, for example, you'll find a dozen or more pages of what looks like the same item, but almost all are counterfeit knock-offs. And like books and e-books, it's difficult getting through to Amazon about these issues.
17
@R.J.L. this is exactly right!! It is open season on buyers. I can't believe they are not addressing this issue!!! But...buyer beware!!
3
Try Alibris first and support the small booksellers, I always do.
29
@njn_Eagle_Scout
or abebooks.com
7
@bes
Better stick to Alibris Books for real books. Amazon owns Abe Books.
18
@njn_Eagle_Scout
Or go to your local independent bookstore, if you can, and ask if they'll order you books.
My indie does, and they offer a 15-20% discount on top of it. No shipping costs, you just pick it up at the store.
6
Amazon wants dearly to be Big Brother. Suddenly the swamp is beginning to settle in Seattle.
8
My first novel, "Lion at the Door," was put out by a small publisher and vended on Amazon for Kindles and other e-readers because neither Hollywood (when in screenplay forn) nor any established publishing house would touch it when written, shortly after the 9/11 attacks. Indeed, even this teensy publisher wouldn't invest in run of hard-copies. So, digital publishing can be a new writer's sole option. As for preventing piracy, my editor demanded Library of Congress registration prior to publishing, with discrete ISBNs. This article's statement that there is no single source of truth re: [x] book's authenticity is simply wrong: every legitimate edition has a unique ISBN and, if the writer or editor did her job, should have a corresponding Library of Congress registration number.
6
@J Young
A friend of mine was able to self-publish on Amazon.
Unfortunately, they're a terrible writer, but that's another topic ;)
However, I'm wondering why 9/11 caused your book to get a black mark. I'm hoping my guess is incorrect.
@J Young-
What’s to stop a counterfeiter from counterfeiting the ISBN number, too? Amazon won’t gate-keep, ride herd. Not on five million titles.
But, even if it does, what follows turns into a game of whack-a-mole as criminals find new outlets to peddle their defective wares. No barriers-to-entry the book publication business thanks to the growing prevalence of virtual (“e”) books in lieu of analog. And readily accessible publishing technology mean “copyright” is rendered impractical, dead through obsolescence.
I wrote in an earlier comment (whose implications nobody seems to have grasped), we’re back to the situation that Homer faced. The blind poet traveled from town to town to recite from memory his great, well-known heroic epic poems simply to eat and have a place to sleep. But if you could memorize that same heroic epic poem — or some vague approximation of it — you, too, could travel from town to town and do the same, undercut his performance price and saturate the audience. The economics of popular culture have gone full-circle. We’re back to that.
Hmmm...maybe I'll publish my own version of Amazon's annual report with just a few inaccuracies in the numbers, a misquote or two from the founder and CEO. I'll then copy it and put it on Facebook with a link to a fake website. That ought to get their attention!
17
@Glenn Cheney I would re-consider that idea, although I suspect that it's just fanciful. Amazon plays hardball.
4
What's on Amazon is a libertarian dream come to life, and is the complete opposite of what Orwell would have expected...
These counterfeits happened because government is absent, not because government is the only game in town.
25
When informed it has been hawking counterfeits and unauthorized copies of books, Amazon should tell the respective sources for the books that they can no longer be Amazon vendors. End of story.
76
@Porter
That would be great...until the vendor changes its name and resumes doing business. And the story continues.
12
@Jay Stark It's a start. But I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for them to do it anyway.
5
After reading another NY Times article concerning counterfeit books on Amazon, it dawned on me one book I purchased - Saburo Sakai (famous Zero pilot) autobiography titled Samurai! was just that. That fake had OCR scan errors such as r n being printed as m. Since then I pay attention to the book publisher before purchase.
Amazon has no excuse for selling fake books as content comparison, which is easy for computers to do would reveal the forgeries.
22
GChapter IVen that Jeff Bezos is the richest man in the world and has stated that he has more money than he knows what to do with, maybe he could spend a little of his money to fix this. After-all, this is the business that started it all for him. Maybe he owes it something? It might help his reputation, he is almost unChapter IVersally hated these days.
188
@Typical Ohio Liberal He could spend some of that money to pay amazon's workers a living wage as well.
I buy almost nothing from amazon these days, just very occasionally an ebook that is not available via overdrive,
7
Amazon gets the attention here, but all digital book vendors are equally to blame. I have been tracking and attempting to report counterfeit copies of books on Apple's iBooks for years after I was burned buying a Kurt Vonnegut book that turned out to be full of typos and clearly not an authorized edition. Such counterfeits seem more and more common on the platform, and Apple provides no way that I've found to report them.
14
@Ryan Niman
https://www.apple.com/feedback/books_ios.html
@Ryan Niman
Some recent purchases can be reported using this page:
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204084
This is an information literacy 101 problem: vetting sources. All information nowadays is suspect, and unless you can verify the origins of any information, it should be treated with a healthy dose of skepticism. The field of study known as 'Textual Criticism' has studied this problem since the time of the Library of Alexandria--it's not new--but it keeps manifesting itself in new places and new ways, the textual equivalent of whack-a-mole.
17
It is interesting that the author chose to criticize Amazon for its business practices in this case, without any reference to the absurdity of US copyright law and the excessive duration of copyright. Why is it good policy that nearly 70 years after his death, copyright is still being claimed by his estate? What motivation did continuing copyright so long after his death give the great author? Surely his literary legacy would be best enhanced by his works' entry into the public domain and publication out of copyright by publishers subject to market forces i.e. like other classics, sales would be dominated by high quality publishers with no market for error ridden versions.
10
@Parker Fairchild The purpose of copyright law is to ensure that artists are paid fairly for their work. The duration is not in any way excessive when you consider that the artist receives only a very small amount per sale of his work. Most of the money consumers pay for a copy of a book goes to middle men, like publishers. Copyright duration recognizes this, and is long enough to help artists receive fair remuneration.
5
@Parker Fairchild What a strange comment. If the work enters the public domain there would be NO CONTROL over the work, it's title, it's content. This article couldn't exist or be written because every change to a work in the public domain is completely legal. You could even slap the words "authorized edition" and it would make no difference. Copyright is the SOLE protection Orwell has in the US (and already has lost in India, hence, the awful version on Amazon).
8
@Jennifer Hoult, J.D.
Silly argument. Almost all sales occur within 6 months of publication. The ridiculous length of copyright only serves to hinder those who wish to make legitimate derivative works, reprint for legitimate anthologies, etc. Some authors (or their great-grandchildren) refuse permission, but an even greater problem is the near-impossibility of tracing ownership of copyright decades after an author's death.
4
Why advertise a book is counterfeit? Just delete it from existence. This all can be bundled as schemes created by other poor countries to profit from unfortunate victims. A good example of this would be the creation of social media pages with pictures of service members to target woman and play on emotions for monetary gain.
1
Amazon has proven itself to a wildly disreputable retailer. I wouldn't buy toothpaste from them, never mind actual books. I'll buy those from my local book stores, with cash, thank you.
13
@Frank
Couldn't agree more. I've been burned by them more times than not, and I honestly don't understand why everyone is so obsessed with it.
4
I never thought of this problem with books. However, I do believe it's a good idea to hang on to any hard copy of older music you may have. I know Amazon won't let you buy the original versions of many old hit songs. What you get is a re-recorded version - and yes, I know why the artists involved did that. They were cheated out of royalties by management, etc. But they don't come close to the feel of the originals. As far as changing books goes, compare the UK translation of War and Peace with the Signet US version...the UK translation reads like literature and the US translation reads like Readers' Digest. So...hang on to your old books, too? Or frequent your used book store (or used record, CD store). And in the process, give an independent vendor your business.
22
Excellent article and excellent journalism. Please keep up the good work. In addition to people trying to cheat copyright for profit, we should assume that fake versions created for political purposes are being sold -- Ayn Rand or Howard Zinn with lots of negatives. This is an incredibly sinister development.
Can we organize boycotts of Amazon???
29
@Richard Brown
I've been boycotting Amazon for more than a year now - by simply not buying anything from them. :)
They are a disgusting company that treats its potential customers the same way it treats its workers: as "material" to be exploited.
22
@Mariwb -- "... a disgusting company that treats its potential customers the same way it treats its workers: as 'material' to be exploited.'"
We've gone from Citizens (who vote) to consumers without protections.
Thanks, Republicans.
Capitalism -- the unbridled type -- will win over Democracy, and the Billionaires shall live like Gods.
7
So: if we have counterfeit and mauled editions of Orwell and perhaps Bradbury, who else is out there, lying mangled on an e-shelf, waiting for an unsuspecting consumer in search of a bargain?
7
@jacklavelle Ayn Rand, one can only hope.
4
Amazon started as a bookseller. It cannot expect to retain a good reputation if it is so indifferent about quality, not to mention copyright law. Serious students of literature have to base much of their work on primary sources. What if the primary source used is a sloppy fraud? College students should skip Amazon.
My question for N.Y.T. is whether this sloppiness can also be found on their digital platform. That is an issue for Kindle readers.
21
@Mary M
"It cannot expect to retain a good reputation if it is so indifferent about quality"
Why not? It's been poor in quality forever and yet people still flock to it.
2
My new habit is to first go directly to the website of the manufacturer of a product I wish to buy, often securing a lower price and avoiding worries caused by numerous purchaser reviews about suspicions of counterfeit goods.
27
@Hippo I have done the same. It appears that 'free" shipping is folded into Amazon's prices. I too go directly to manufacturers and have found lower prices on many products. If a manufacturer doesn't sell directly, I can often find a store with an online presence that will ship the item for free if I buy several items.
17
@Hippo,
Good idea. I've been doing the same for years. best of all, it vastly simplifies the search and the headaches that come from endless searching. When I need jeans I go to Levi's. I've always worn Levi's and they still look good and wear well. So why would I waste my time on Amazon when I can go straight to the source?
The same holds true for books. Why not just go straight to the publisher?
8
@laurence
My local independent book store will order pretty much any book you want, and give you a 15-20% discount to boot. There is never a shipping charge, you just pick it up at the store.
People keep complaining about how all their local stores are closing or don't have what they want, and yet they turn around and buy everything on Amazon.
8
I use my Kindle each night when I go to bed. I am a voracious reader and have noticed that many of the books I read have spelling and punctuation errors, some to the extent that they are disturbing to read. I have tried to figure out how to contact Amazon about this, to no avail. Thanks for this important article.
30
@Lori, I have read that using these devices for the last hour before sleep interferes with sleep quality.
9
@Lory
A long time ago I inquired about typos found in an author's work in one of the forums on the Amazon web page that sold the book. I was told that Amazon wouldn't let the author upload an edited version. I don't know the veracity of that statement. What I do know is that I got accused of being a troll when I offered to help edit the work. Go figure.
3
@Lory
I’ve found those kind of errors from Kindle versions by legitimate publishers. Sad.
4
It’s not just text that’s being counterfeited or stolen on Amazon. A few weeks ago, I was going through the free kindle books on Amazon in hopes of finding something that might be readable. One of them struck me because the cover art was identical to the cover art of a book by another, more established author whose work I had recently read. I reported it, but since I don’t remember the name of the freebie, I have no idea if Amazon took any action.
Amazon is a necessary evil for me. Aging eyes, the limited selection of large print books available, and the ability to adjust font size make Kindle a necessity for me. Do I like this situation? No. But as a lifelong reader, the alternative of reading less is worse.
14
@Anne
They are an evil, but not a necessary one - there are many other companies that sell e-books.
7
@Mariwb
At the time I made my decision to buy a Kindle, the other publishers did not offer as many ebooks as Amazon, nor was I sure that they would all survive.
2
The abuses on Amazon are everyone's responsibility. This is what I post in the Comments section whenever I see a problem:
Truth is disappearing in our world, and it’s everybody’s job to fight it.
1. Chapters of previously published books are being sold online as new works by the same author.
2. Out-of-date science books are sold and advertised as current.
3. Old textbooks and other academic works are categorized as used and sold online for hundreds of dollars, but are otherwise unavailable.
4. Self-published books are flooding the market and are more and more impossible to distinguish from traditionally published books. Anyone with a computer can “publish” one of these books.
5. Previously respectable journals are now selling so-called review services for a fee.
6. Counterfeiting and plagiarizing of legitimate books is rampant. The quality of many of these books is compromised by the extreme “summarizing” and “editing” performed on them.
7. Scientific and academic journals are being inundated with bogus research results. These are written so skillfully that they’re frequently published.
The entire academic enterprise with its subsidiary benefits is being undermined and replaced by an ocean of illegitimate knowledge. We’ll all pay the price for this.
53
@BetsyJ But information wants to be free and publishers are evil!!!!
I
@OneView
That’s one view. Another is that copyright law is essential to the quality of information and to invent authors to bother to write.
When will a company like Amazon take responsibility period? It
allows copyright violations routinely, not only by selling doctored
copies but by selling stolen editions of books from indistinct presses that are impossible to track down because the publisher
is not listed: Amazon DOES NOT require publishers even to list
their names in the book it sells. So you can buy a book that says:
Made in the USA
Lexington KY
and have no idea what publishing house or what creepy rip-off outfit your sale has profited. These illegal practices would be easy for Amazon to check against. The profiteers: Amazon and
digital cheats.
17
“When will a company like Amazon take responsibility for the curation of the products passing through their hands?” --Bill Hamilton, the agent for the Orwell estate.
Probably not before Republicans take responsibility for Donald J. Trump.
Or when the Kochs take co-responsibility for global, catastrophic climate change.
Or wne We, the People take to the streets (like people in Hong Kong). At some point, the oppression is going to be just too much to take.
17
"Amazon said in a statement that 'there is no single source of truth' for the copyright status of every book in every country, and so it relied on authors and publishers to police its site"
Ah, the hidden hand, policing itself.
Small wonder, Amazon owner Jeffery Bezos is Thee Richest Man in America.
'Police thyself, Billionaire.'
Orwell must be quaking.
43
This is why I buy all my books from reputed companies like Barnes & Noble
11
Those perpetrating this fraud and the soulless drones at Amazon who make it possible should all be sent to Room 101.
13
One might start with the completely loony term of US copyright, as compared with other perfectly legal jurisdictions, that have the effect of keeping serious early 20th Century "classics" out of the public domain for decades too long. All this to protect commercially licensed junk publications that have an active shelf life of a year or two, after which it is no use at all to most writers.
Some years ago I discovered Gutenberg Australia and several Oz Universities providing Virginia Woolf, the Moncrieff Proust translation, D.H. Lawrence and others, free to download and "banned" in the USA. Two ironies seem to have emerged a) the availability of foreign public domain ebooks has led to excellent dirt cheap editions (e.g. Delphi and others) in the Kindle store, and b) MALA (Make America Literate Again) Trump saved the English speaking world from Obama's TPP, which would have dragged Australia and New Zealand into the American copyright regime and terminated free access to dozens of writers - a sigh of relief heard round the world.
@J111111 Oh, virtuous Trump? The man who considers the press (with exemptions of course) the enemy of the people? The man who won't read more than two pages of stuff his staff wants him to read? Who has a social networks genius as his campaign manager looking for bigger and better ways to spread disinformation and propaganda? Oh thank you Trump for saving the English language!
7
@J111111 Did you read the article? Those same public domain rules (in India) are what are causing unreadable and poisoned copies of Orwell's works appear on Amazon. Well done.
Remember the risks of unintended consequences.
3
@J111111
"and terminated free access to dozens of writers "
You can't be serious. DOZENS of writers? Really, that's all it takes to declare that Trump "saved the English speaking world"?
3
Amazon started out as a bookstore, and I like to think it was because its founder loved books. That Amazon has morphed into a company that no longer cares about the integrity of the books it sells is extremely disappointing and a betrayal of its roots.
Come on, Mr. Bezos, do the right thing, take responsibility for this problem and correct it.
28
@Lily
I would add that Amazon is and has been a for years a company that doesn't care about the integrity of most everything it sells. Period.
23
@Lily The reason Jeff Bezos started with books is that they had preprinted ISBNs (SKUs) and prices on the products. All the work had been done. Books were his beta test for creating a dominant market share. It had nothing to do with a love for books. Shop at your local indie bookseller.
40
@Lily
MacKenzie is gone, replaced by someone who used to "read news" on TV. Kinda fits.
4
"The company added that machine learning and artificial intelligence were ineffective when there is no single source of truth from which the model can learn."
Um, don't we have copies of the original books as published by the author(s)? If the counterfeit is in English (I think it might be hard to precisely translate into a foreign language), there is no excuse for changes and it should be fairly easy to avoid such. If machine learning can't at least ensure word for word English copies, bite the bullet and hire humans. You can't use "it's expensive" as an excuse for allowing authors' works to be desecrated.
28
In terms of works of art and authorship, copyright protection is about the only legal remedy to prevent the poisoning of the world's psyche. Compare and contrast the destruction of Orwell's classic '1984' to what's going on today with Pepe the Frog. Poor Pepe doesn't seem to have any copyright protection, so he doesn't enjoy the legal clout of Mickey Mouse or SpongeBob Square Pants. So everybody abuses the little guy because there's nobody to protect his purity of essence.
Perhaps it's only fitting that Nineteen Eighty-four will have the same fate as 'The Book of Goldstein': only available as a worn paper copy in an underground market.
This is not just an issue with books on Amazon. Many commodity items like batteries are now cheap knock offs that fail very quickly if they work at all. You can tell there is a problem by reading the one star reviews. After being burned a couple of times I have stopped buying products on Amazon. For those who want to guarantee that the book they buy is authentic I suggest they go to your local book store. If you count the value of the time you waste discovering and dealing with a knockoff you will probably save money in the end and perhaps meet a nice knowledgeable bookstore owner or employee who can help you find interesting new books.
15
Back in the 79s I attended a business luncheon for publishers and the guest speaker was Isaac Asimov. He spoke of the coming digital age and, apropos for our group the threatened 'death of print'. He admonished us all to start to collect books in print saying, "You cannot alter a printed book without the reader knowing. A missing page, a changed word will all be revealed. Not so with digital books. They can be altered without a trace." Just the kind of prescience you would expect from a SF writer and here we are. I am sure he is not surprised as well.
115
@Jimmy Blessings to Isaac Asimov. There's probably someone at the moment trying to sell a "signed" digital copy of one of his works. And someone will buy it.
5
Isaac Asimov passed away in 1992, so I doubt he could be surprised now. :-)
I agree he was one if the greats, truly ahead of his time.
4
@Jimmy
"You cannot alter a printed book without the reader knowing." But, that's the point of this article. Printed books are being altered, and, when those alterations go beyond glaring misprints, how would a reader know without much sleuthing? In that sense, digital books have an advantage. Digitization would allow for two copies to be compared in seconds, or less, to reveal discrepancies. The real challenge may be designating an authentic copy of the original and making it immune to alteration. In that sense, printed and digital versions may both play a role.
1
This is a scary story. I had no idea copyright laws have been so flagrantly violated. If it’s any consolation this might save the endangered species called used book stores, where readers can search for copies of books published before Amazon and similar platforms were on the Internet. And if one has a book collection, keep them forever. Or to take a page out Fahrenheit 451, commit a book to memory.
17
NYT - Can you please add a link to the Association of American Publisher's analysis filed with the FTC?
13
How is it that Mr. Bezos and his stable of executives (and investors! let's not forget them...) is not doing time for distributing more stolen material than any human being in the history of Earth? And paying reparations to publishers, authors' estates, and the like?
If you know they're stolen, he knows they're stolen.
He is a fence, a fraud, a counterfeiter, and a thief.
101
If Amazon won't curate what it sells, then I'll buy from a book seller who will. Could NYTimes do some investigative reporting to confirm that one exists? Abe Books, for example?
18
@Mark Anema
Hate to break it to you: "An ecommerce pioneer, our company was founded in 1995 and our first website, AbeBooks.com, was launched a year later. We're a subsidiary of Amazon.com, Inc. after being acquired in December 2008. Our headquarters are located in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada (where we were founded) and we also have an office in Düsseldorf, Germany."
6
@Mark Anema
i think alibris still okay... for now. hated losing abebooks.
1
@Mark Anema Powell’s, Portland, Oregon’s “City of Books” has a huge inventory of used and new books, with a wonderful website and reviews and recommendations from a staff of voracious readers. Order online and support a book lover’s landmark even if you can’t visit in person.
9
"After all, if you need a copy of “Animal Farm” or “1984” for school, you’re not going to think too much about who published it."
But you're going to write an entire article about that very fact.
I have bought thousands of books from Amazon and I have escaped the dreaded 'piracy' scheme somehow.
Could it be because I buy from a real publisher ie. Penguin - or read the reviews - or stick to my basic ethos of never buying anything that can be counterfeited via the internet from India, China or the Ukraine?
Sheesh - protect me from myself Amazon.
7
Amazon can start by Telling The Truth , like the NYT headline today shareholder value is not the priority.
11
Students rely heavily on Amazon for their textbooks -- and Amazon depends on this market as easy prey. Many of these books are likely not carefully read, the original text won't be known well enough to be missed, and the counterfeits won't be discovered.
18
This is especially problematic with titles out of copyright. Every time my book club meets, time is wasted discussing the difficulty of determining which version of the next book is usable. We’ve been trying to shift away from ebooks to locally purchased paper copies, but they are often not available in our bookstores.
9
@M. Escalera I would recommend the excellent project Guttenberg as a legal and generally quite reliable source for out-of-copyright literature in ebook form. It lacks pretty covers, but the texts have (in my experience) been good quality, and free.
7
@Nicole
And the Open Library - a treasure trove!
You can borrow books for 14 days.
2
"Amazon sometimes bundles all the reviews of a title together, regardless of which edition they were written for." Yes it does, and this cuts both ways. I've seen many one star reviews of excellent books, that only applied to the pirated version. I've sent comments to Amazon, but it's like sweeping back the ocean. It'll take intervention by the FTC to fix this mess (yet another reason to vote Nov 2020). In the meantime, I buy elsewhere whenever possible.
24
@ghsalb This is a real nightmare when one is searching for particular translations of foreign works, because Amazon lumps all the titles together (often including childrens' adaptations of classic texts alongside the originals)
4
@ghsalb As noted elsewhere, AbeBooks is owned by Amazon. However, www.alibris.com is not owned by amazon (so far). When I need used books, I always check alibris; many positive experiences, no problems. Many sellers advertise both places, at same price.
7
@ghsalb I always glance over the 1 and 2 star reviews for everything. At least you might get some tips of what is going on. And with Google and Bing searches go a few pages in and see if there is the hint of an alternate window to the first two pages. Check DuckDuckGo. Not foolproof of course but at least an attempt to look for a greater perspective.
1
From the time they arrived on the scene I rejected digital books. They are just too easy to alter. On my shelves are a number of historically significant books that--as long as they exist in physical form--prevent future alteration or distortion. My proudest is probably a printed commemorative copy of Charta 77 signed by Vaclav Havel and his first wife Olga, and my most harrowing probably a copy of "Without Sanctuary," a survey of contemporary photos and newspaper articles concerning lynchings in the U.S.. Books like these need to exist in unalterable physical form.
Sloppiness can strike anywhere. I recently read a lovely luxurious leather bound edition of Toni Morrison's "Beloved" that suffered a greater than normal number of typographical errors. I'm sure it was authorized as Ms. Morrison also signed an edition of another of her novels by the same publisher. So much for the luxury publishers!
6
“When will a company like Amazon take responsibility for the curation of the products passing through their hands?” asks Bill Hamilton.
That will be never, unless the government actually forces them to do so.
82
Amazon has been infiltrated by international knock-offs and garbage. However, I do use it to help me find books I like (their suggestion algorithm is quite good), and then I click the "used" link to the marketplace where used copies are being sold. Buying second hand copies is (1) an act of recycling and greener, (2) a hedge against getting a junky copy because a non-Amazon bookstore cares more about their reputation, and (3) puts money back in the US.
43
@J L
Dont forget your public library.... a win win!
15
@J L I've never had problems with Half Price Books.
4
@J L Good tip on the used books suggestion. Thanks.
1
The solution to this is simple: do not purchase books from Amazon. A reduction in profits from book selling is the only thing that will motivate them to do anything.
27
@Anon I completely agree with you. Fortunately, independent bookstores are flourishing. Most owners of such bookstores are bibliophiles - something which Amazon is not. Please patronize these stores, and don't worry about saving a few pennies by supporting Amazon.
67
@Mary
I’d love to only support indie bookstores but as a lifelong booklover currently making a modest income, I must disagree that the savings on Amazon or the used market is “a few pennies”. I’ve saved $10-40 sometimes on a title bought used or through Amazon. I do splurge at my favorite indie bookstores once or twice a year for authors I love or editions I intend to keep for life but it can be a big expense that must be planned in advance.
I fully understand the justifiable economics of paying authors and staff of publishers living wages but just want to clarify that many of us aren’t saving merely “a few pennies”. That fact matters when attempting to balance all the costs incurred by living, even frugally.
16
@left coast finch
I think JL Bay Area (above) has a good response re buying Amazon's used books. Makes great sense. Many of us appreciate the savings far above "a few pennies".
2
Quote: “We have spent our whole lives in a fact-based world and while that seems how things ought to be, it may prove to have been a temporary aberration.”
Indeed. How could it be otherwise, when we have not only a president but half the country, his slavering followers, who scoff at facts and revel in ignorance.
94
@Lisa Simeone
That quote is possibly the most chilling thing I’ve read in recent years and I’ve read plenty.
I knew we were living in fact-challenged times and I’ve also separately known that before the “Industrial Age” or “Information Age” or really before the invention of the printing press, knowledge beyond that required for subsistence living within specific local environments was sequestered to the wealthy or clerical classes, which themselves were often fact-challenged. But I’d never considered the possibility that the fact-based world in which I’ve lived my entire life could simply be a historical aberration and not the actual long-term future of humanity.
I thought this nightmare had an end. I thought that, like other times in history when new technology brings temporary chaos to upended previous order, in time the chaos will give way to a new order of fact-based standards. I vacillate weekly between belief in the general forward and upward evolution of humanity and deep, nearly debilitating depression at its current stupidity. Today, after reading about blatant literary fraud churned out by India (what is going on with India anyways these days?), I’m pretty depressed...
20
Another excellent article, Mr. Streitfeld, showing how Amazon is selling units, not books which might actually be communicating thoughts and ideas.
One widget is interchangeable with any other widget, after all.
The internal links, should people click on them, provide further useful and depressing information and confirmations.
I'm forwarding the link to this to numerous publishing blogs, editors, and individuals around the world.
10
@Andrew Porter
Bravo!! Spread the word.
1
If you or I did this, we'd go to jail. Meanwhile, Jeff Bezos is celebrated as a genius and hero.
Make this Christmas and holiday season Amazon-free.
162
I will. I have stopped buying from Bezos (which I refuse to name after the forest that jailable bolsonaro now attacks) for almost four years, after a fling with them due to urgent college needs (reluctantly, having already known about the 1-Click patent).
Sadly, many people I'd buy from elsewhere (read: eBay) buy their wares from or "fulfill by" Bezos anyway, and Bezos has been caught pressuring eBayers to switch to them. Only restored monopoly law, a 45th President, a Sane Congress with teeth, and a widened Court can hope join forces to stop that bald bull in his counterfeit China shop.
2
Tech titans like industrial titans need a 'come to jesus' moment. Wait, that never happened. Rockefeller, Vanderbilt, Carnegie, Mellon are still revered.
— and Bezos? He's owns Amazon, a blue chip newspaper and a high end grocery store, so that he's literally feeding the American Public on every level.
9
And maybe Amazon should stop helping I.C.E. rip migrant families apart and undermine what JFK called “a nation of immigrants.”
9
Did this article's writer not notice that the supposed "edited by Moira Propreat" is dated 2105? Just a minor thing, apparently.
Beyond that, it would be interesting to see if more "liberal" type books are faked than conservative writings. Given the current situation in the US (and some other countries), I would not be surprised if that were the case.
7
@Aaron Taylor Yep, I noticed that, too. AND she can’t be found. Conspiracy? Time travel? Or simple typo?!
3
Amazon's position here (authors & estates should police their literary content/products) seems to be an entirely reasonable one. How can a bookseller, no matter how large, possible know the multitude of permissions and copyrights various estates have agreed to?
If Orwell is being diminished, let Orwell's estate protect his reputation and his writing. That is why they are given a cut of the royalties after all.
Estates would have something to squawk about if Amazon refused to take down a counterfeit version, but that seems not to be the case.
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@Laurence Bachmann Personaly reasonable for a pawn shop to fence goods?
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@JR
Yes as long as there is no reasonable expectation they knew they were stolen. It is the police's job to recover stolen property, not a pawn broker. Have the cops do their job not a vendor. Why should they?
It is the job of the estate to protect copyrights and usages. They are PAID to do so. That's WHY they collect a percentage of royalties. If you want Amazon to do so, give them a cut. If you want the pawn broker to do so, give him a cut of recovered jewelry.
The responsibility here is pretty obvious, I think. And it's the estate's not Amazon's.
@Laurence Bachmann
Pawn shop owners can be charged with trafficking in stolen goods if they do not take efforts to establish the seller's legit status.
But that's nothing like what Amazon is doing here: by announcing that it isn't Amazon's responsibility to concern itself at all with pirated copies, they are always already failing to, in good faith, establish even a "reasonable expectation" that materials are not counterfeit or stolen.
To use the pawn shop metaphor, that would be like a pawn shop announcing that attempting even the most cursory legitimacy test was too costly, so they were not going to bother with sorting stolen goods from legal goods, and then denying that they had any responsibility when stolen goods came flowing in. The law wouldn't see it that way.
Especially - to stretch this metaphor to the breaking point - when other pawn shops are doing the work of looking for crooks and actively keeping crooks away. Other book retailers police their stock by knowing their vendors. Amazon refuses to take the most basic steps even small indies take because that would kill these lucrative swarms of vendors and they'd lose their cut of the pirated sales.
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I'd just be happy if Amazon would at least create an algorithm that put established U.S. editions first on a search (unless someone specified cheapest first).
I've wasted hours searching for classics for my kids, trying to sort through all the bogus and print on demand versions.
Even something like a Dover classic edition can be buried.
And they'l list half a dozen from the same "publisher" in a row--just because they have different covers.
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@JB
Why waste hours on Amazon? Check out other bookselling sites.
4
Thank you for writing about this issue which I would’ve never in my lifetime could have anticipated! Fake Orwell?
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The problem isn't just limited to Orwell. I recently bought a copy of Jane Austen's "Emma" from Amazon online. I went with a rather inexpensive choice, figuring that since the book is 200 years old there didn't seem to be much point in someone putting out a counterfeit version. When I downloaded it, it was clearly a very badly done optical scan with so many errors it was unreadable. I then bought a version from a well known publisher, and it was fine. Amazon gave me a credit for the first one.
By the way, "Emma" is awesome, and highly recommended.
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On a similar note, but not as important, Amazon's book listings are filled with errors because the first copy of an out-of-print title listed for sale becomes the default copy, and that listing's errors of ISBN, or edition, or publisher or physical format (hardcover or softcover) become enshrined as fact. I sell books on Amazon and it's amazing how many times when I upload my inventory to Amazon they match books to the wrong listing in their database inventory because they don't seem to care about quality control.
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I have been very frustrated for two or three years about how difficult it has become to find the copyright of books I am interested in purchasing online. Now I understand why searching on a book's title in quotes and the word copyright most frequently does not return results listing the copyright of a book title. This is maddening! My eyesight (with glasses) now makes reading hardcopy books difficult. I mostly rely on my kindle. The books I read (science, literary fiction, and other unpopular catagories) are not available in the used bookstores where I live. What is one to do?
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It’s time to go back to the legitimate written word. I know this, I predicted this. Three years ago I broke down and gave into the ease of a Kindle. Light weight, it’s own light and saving of space With a shrug of my shoulders I donated nine boxes of books to my local library.
I starting recycling over 12 years of magazines. I wanted proof of what was reported. Something told me to stop. Now I know why.
We need to protect the hard copy of journalism. This article proves why. Lacking a truth, a verifiable source, we fulfill the criteria of a “Sheep Look Up.”
Though in the past being ridiculed for ‘long live the pencil,’ this old boomer realizes that she jumped the wrong side of the fence. It’s not too late, I still have time to jump back.
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As another NYT columnist recently lamented, "we have sold our souls for Prime and 2 day shipping." One more thing to be depressed about. Maybe we should start assigning books to memorizers a la Fahrenheit 451 so that the "true" canon will not be lost.
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@GeriMD
What absurd histrionics. There is nothing here to lament.
I buy books from Amazon; I buy them from local booksellers; I take them out from my local library. My soul remains intact.
Now in my seventh decade I have been listening to Cassandras predict the destruction of literary publishing; the end of libraries, the death of literacy. They need to stop howling and make a plan to support all types of book buying and selling:
I buy my personal reading choices from my local bookstore; I buy book gifts from Amazon (faster/cheaper and they wrap it for you) and books I'm unsure I'll be interested in from my public library.
People should find their own balance/preference, but it is not impossible to have private bookstores, Amazon and public libraries. In fact, it's IDEAL.
Readers have never been so fortunate. Enjoy!
8
@Laurence Bachmann, Except you should have said "get" them from the public library.
@Laurence Bachmann
"I have been listening to Cassandras predict the destruction of literary publishing; the end of libraries, the death of literacy. "
And you don't see that happening? Seriously?
6
One strategy—don’t shop at Amazon.
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@sRh
Excellent advice. I stopped using Amazon a few years back. For a while I used it exclusively to research a pending purchase, not anymore. These days I find many of the reviews to be as counterfeit as some of the products.
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Lotsa luck with that. When I go to stores I can’t find what i want much of the time and with traffic and crowds going to multiple stores to shop just isn’t feasible. Once on line Amazon is overwhelming. Plus our household has Prime and with free shipping and lower prices, it’s very hard to use another “store.”
@Richard L
Look at other sites! It's amazing to me that Amazon is somehow hanging on to its reputation as the lowest-priced place to shop, years after that "fact" was no longer true. I recently saved $30 on an item ordered from Home Depot'swebsite compared to the Amazon price. Bed Bath & Beyond's web site now acccepts their ubiquitous coupons, so big savings can be had there, too. It's time to think outside the Amazon box.
4
Am I the first one here to notice that “Moira Propreat”(obviously a play on “more appropriate”) supposedly did her adapting work in a year that is 86 years in the future?
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@Jerrold
I wonder if her middle name is "Ina"?
15
@Jerrold that jumped out at me as well. Maybe 2105 is the sequel to 1984...
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@Jerrold, Good catch! Too much fun
13
When commenting on NYT all comments are vouched beforehand - by staff.
Meanwhile we have youtube uploading 400 hours of content every minute, and Amazon awash with scammed uploaded books. Why in the world are there not laws requiring platforms like these to apply standards to uploads BEFORE they infest our culture with lies and propaganda or some scammers cheap way to make money? They should not get away with their lame excuse of machine-learning/AI still being trained to respond "but it´s difficult".
They won´t ever do the right thing unless they´re forced to. Profit is king bah.
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@Riddararaddir
NYT moderation of comments is not cheap. I believe they have looked at eliminating moderation of comments and thank God they decided to keep it. Otherwise I would likely not be a subscriber.
11
Why can't people use their brains to make the world a better place instead of using their brains to lie and cheat? I guess "The love of money is the root of all evil" is true.
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And, in true Orwellian fashion, Ms. Propreat edited her version of Down & Out in the future ("2105")!!!
13
it looks like Moira Propeat also "edited" Down and Out in Paris and London in the year 2105!!
4
"The editing was credited to a Moira Propreat" - or if you say it: "More Appropriate". Clueless attempts at humor don't remove guilt.
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@Harpo
Good catch! I also noticed that the date of editing is given as "2105."
8
Amazon is proving itself an awful company in many ways. They sell Nazi and other white nationalist paraphernalia (how about a nice pair of swastika earrings?), apparently treat their employees horribly, and now they're selling fake/edited versions of books, classic books too? Two pieces of advice: buy online or in-store from Barnes & Noble, or, get outdoors to an actual bookstore, preferably an independent one while some still exist. I'm a 67-year-old writer and I've lived to see big changes in my time, good and bad. I didn't think I'd live to see English destroyed and literature defiled by ignorant children, irresponsible retailers, and dangerous, digital "toys." As Maurice Chevalier sang: "I'm so glad I'm not young anymore." Indescribably disgusting!
31
No wonder you can't find Moira Propreat: according to the title page you reproduced in the article, she performed her edit in the year 2105. Amazon isn't just selling counterfeit books, it's selling counterfeit books from the future! (This gaffe would be funnier if it were't for the fact that authors and readers alike are at huge intellectual risk from this shoddy business practice.)
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A nightmare, indeed! How unfortunate that Amazon is a part of this. Thievery never goes out of style, but Amazon could do more to stop this.
14
The one saving grace on Amazon is that you can return items. Maybe additional Amazon should start an "Amazon Basics" for books where they republish open market classics and guarantee these are authentic!
11
@Richard Or how about we just stop buying from Amazon and find a more trustworthy seller?
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@Richard
And of course they will re-publish those authentic classics at a higher price, under their subsidiary "rare books" unit!
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Thank you, David Streitfield, for attending to this gave issue. Amazon should be ashamed of itself, complaining their machines can't know the truth. Why does it need machines to know the truth? Humans are quite capable of doing that themselves. They just need the bookseller to take the necessary time to check for legitimacy. Otherwise, they are complicit in a fraud.
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Amazon is starting to feel a lot more like eBay lately, and I never shop on eBay. I don't want to have to wade through pages of 3rd party sellers who probably sell my contact information as soon as they get it to find what I need.
18
"Orwell warns that we will be overcome by an externally imposed oppression. But in Huxley's vision, no Big Brother is required to deprive people of their autonomy, maturity and history. As he saw it, people will come to love their oppression, to adore the technologies that undo their capacities to think.
What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one. Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egoism. Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance. Orwell feared we would become a captive culture. Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture, preoccupied with some equivalent of the feelies, the orgy porgy, and the centrifugal bumblepuppy. As Huxley remarked in Brave New World Revisited, the civil libertarians and rationalists who are ever on the alert to oppose tyranny "failed to take into account man's almost infinite appetite for distractions." In 1984, Orwell added, people are controlled by inflicting pain. In Brave New World, they are controlled by inflicting pleasure. In short, Orwell feared that what we fear will ruin us. Huxley feared that what we desire will ruin us."
- Neil Postman
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@Upcat
What a brilliant crank Postman was. But I wouldn't throw the baby out with the bathwater. Orwell would have likely re-adjusted, his understanding of the power of language still rings true, as does the observation that a war economy requires poor, anxiety-ridden and relatively uneducated masses (doing low-wage work). And a system of propaganda (where Huxley's dystopian vision excels) to make us not only feel good about our circumstances, but to lack any capacity to imagine alternatives.
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@omartraore While I do appreciate Postman's comparison of Orwell and Huxley for how it elucidates their relative value to the predicament we find ourselves in now in the year 2019, I feel relying too heavily on that comparison does a disservice to Orwell.
His writing was in response to actual events and trends of the 1930s and 40s. These were events which were occurring contemporaneously with his writing. For example, "Animal Farm" is a metaphor for life as it was actually lived by millions in the Soviet Union during the period that Orwell was writing. His writing was not about some future society , it was about society present at that time. Rather than being an attempt at predicting the future, it was a wake up call to his peers concerning dangerous trends he had witnessed during the internecine battles of the Spanish Civil War and in the Soviet Union.
So when we say that Orwell got the future wrong, we have missed the point and reveal that we still don't know the history. This is truly scary.
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@Andrew Thank you, commenters, for the insight! Huxley already felt so prescient when I read him as a schoolkid in the 80s, but that’s no knock on Orwell, whose focus on fear and totalitarianism is just as relevant. It’s awful to consider important works such as Orwell’s or Huxley’s—so foundational for young people coming to terms with the society they live in—diluted and corrupted by careless, profit-hungry capitalism.
18
Since Amazon also owns Abebooks, it lists tens of thousands by book jackers (advertisers who do not have the actual book but will try to sell a copy often for many times its normal selling price. Once a person orders the book at the inflated price they will try to obtain a cheaper copy and sell it. Many complaints have not been answered apparently since the profits from the advertisements is more important to Amazon and its subsidiary than offering a quality buying experience.
44
@Richard Murian Alibris sells used books and they’re pretty good, but the condition of the book you buy isn’t always as good as described.
Then there’s the Books for Good website, which sells mostly used books from libraries.
6
@Sarah L.
There is also Biblio.com, still independent of Amazon.
4
@Richard Murian - Good information. Thanks. I didn't know Amazon owned Abebooks.
1
Unfortunately, counterfeit books are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Amazon. The company lists thousands of counterfeit products for sale on its site. Buyer definitely beware.
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@LA2SD, ever visit the down-market variety shops in every city on the planet? Like Jesus said about the poor: It's always going to be with us.
As the author of a number of textbooks, I am sure the same falsifications are also taking place in that branch of publishing. When I look at the Amazon site, the covers of my titles are not the same ones with which they were originally published. And, of course, I am being cheated because I get no royalties on their sales.
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@GSK - The textbook publishers are trying: http://stopcounterfeitbooks.com/best-practices/ as they are impacted too. There has been some innovation in this area in terms of tracking and improvements for fighting counterfeits, but it is a major problem for publishers as well. It is an area that may benefit from some blockchain type development.
Publishers are working hard and seeking solutions to stem the tide, but print on demand, cheap international shipping, and a lack of consumer care or awareness is a difficult combination to defeat.
30
is it too much to ask for amazon to sell authentic copies of the items for sale on its site? i don't think so.
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@Andie
That’s not the analysis that Amazon is actually conducting, which is: how much does Amazon make selling counterfeit books and the potential for a government penalty (unlikely to nonexistent) versus the costs of policing counterfeits and the associated losses in sales. We already know the answer to this equation.
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@Andie
Don’t expect Amazon to be a gatekeeper. You will be disappointed.
18
@Andie
If you buy a Gucci purse out of a trunk in the parking lot of city hall - are you going to blame city hall when it turns out to be a fake?
12
Time to stop shopping at Amazon and patronizing a more ethical retailer. I have been using the site since the beginning but have reduced my purchasing significantly from them this year.
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@Gerard
And where and how do you do that? Who wants to spend an entire day running around to different places in hopes you can find the thing you actually want or need - not to mention how environmentally bad that is on all kinds of levels - versus spending 30 minutes on Amazon and getting everything you need in one fell swoop? Then you get to use all that other time you would have wasted on other more enjoyable things. Just because Bezos is Dr. Evil doesn't mean you shouldn't use Amazon. By that rationale you need to go back to being a cave dweller because virtually every corp you but anything from is helmed by some evil psychopath or sociopath.
1
@Sparky I haven’t bought anything via Amazon in over a year. It’s not that hard.
And, yes, we should stop patronizing evil. When you know a company doesn’t pay taxes, living wages and destroys local businesses that do, stop spending money there.
I’ve cancelled Amazon, Netflix and am not suffering.
And you can make online sales directly from reputable vendors at better prices and with free shipping. Amazon bills them too.
5
It sounds more and more like Scott Gallway is right: the only solution is government control over tech companies like Amazon that operate outside the law.
48
Amazon seems bent on destroying Western civilization all by itself, all in the name of profit and market share. It would be easy for them to offer only books that respect copyrights and come from reputable publishers. Instead, they will leave it to the authors to sue them. We see how well that works. No one should EVER buy anything from Amazon. They might as well just stamp 666 on all their boxes.
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@Bonnie Balanda
Amazon itself may buy legitimately (for the most part). What's changed was the creation of their "marketplace" which gives 3rd party sellers access to Amazon's domain, with Amazon taking a cut from the transactions. In theory, win-win, but the reality of dubious products shows that those who will cheat people will take equal advantage of the platform. One area Amazon could change things is not to mix reviews of multiple items. I want to see the reviews for that one product, from that one seller, otherwise the reviews can become totally meaningless.
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@Bonnie Balanda
'666'?
Say isn't that president trump's address?
I wonder if there's any connection...
10
@Bonnie Balanda
Your quarrel isn't really with Amazon. We have a capitalist economy, Amazon is just a bad actor.
Adam Smith's theory of a competitive enterprise system (wrongly called a "free" enterprise system by Chamber of Commerce types who prefer Wild West rules with no restraints) assumed:
1) many sellers,
2) many buyers, and
3) perfect information
Market discipline was supposed to result when informed buyers withheld their business from the bad actors and gave it to someone else. Instead what we have are near-monopoly conditions, and buyers who don't much care about anything other than their own convenience. How else do 7-11 or Circle K stay in business, charging 40% to 60% more for stuff you can get cheaper elsewhere?
Amazon has no power other than what its customers are willing to give it. I took a free trial of Prime, and declined to continue. That must be so rare, they couldn't believe it, kept hounding me. Hey, I don't need stuff in one or two days, I am perfectly willing to wait 7-10 days, free with a minimum purchase. I always wait until I have enough to order to meet that threshold. Free access to video streaming, to me, didn't justify the cost.
The same is true of Citizens United. Yeah, it was a stupid decision. But if people didn't fall for misleading and dishonest political advertising, the big spenders would just be wasting their money.
What is actually "destroying Western civilization" (and its American subset) is the stupidity of buyers and voters!
29
“Counterfeit editions are a blow against the authority of the book and accelerate a dangerous trend toward misinformation.“
Welcome to our brave new( Huxley) post truth post fact world. Ironic barely describes how indicative this trend is of untethered dis-information. Amazon needs to step up and figure out solutions to this problem before the written word becomes as denatured of meaning as social media.
51
Amazon needs to be held accountable for the products it sells, including Marketplace merchandise. They have the resources and if they can't do this, the first thing you should see when you go to the website is a big "Caveat Emptor" warning.
There are definitely advantages to shopping at brick and mortar stores, if you can find them.
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@jessegaron
Good news, over the past couple of years independent book stores have had a resurgence. A good index to articles reporting on this can be found here https://www.bookweb.org/for-the-record
Less than 2 months ago the Times reported on this issue with an article titled: "Bookstores Find Growth as ‘Anchors of Authenticity’." Gets to the heart of the matter the author here is speaking to.
24