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It's hard not to fall back on analogies to physical books, but ebooks are generally not "sold", they are licensed the same way that software is. That license can sometimes be revoked for a variety of reasons. Most people coming into the world of ebooks miss this distinction and the implications of it, but it's very important, especially when something like this happens and people are told they have no right to something they believe they own.
I generally like Amazon, which is one of the reasons I bought a Kindle, but since I don't necessarily trust "the cloud" in general I've made sure I have local accessible backup copies of anything I buy for my Kindle. (Read into that what you will.)
I don't see this situation as censorship, but I do think it's a crappy thing to do the way they are doing it. It seems reactionary, and I prefer companies to act with a little more stability than that. I agree that they can sell whatever they choose, but when you have a large base of customers that have bought into a seemingly closed system (the Kindle), removing access to things they've purchased without adequate communication makes Amazon look like they're pushing their weight around. Doesn't matter if it's technically accurate or not, the pitchforks will come out.
I don't read incest erotica, but I do read other things that some might find unseemly. If this is a case of people clicking the "report inappropriate content' link and Amazon reacting, that is indeed vile because it gives the power to the slacktivists (really, it's just a click) and takes it away from the person spending their hard earned money at Amazon. That would be less a matter of Amazon choosing to sell what it wants to and more a matter of giving in to those who would be in favor of real censorship.
Just my 2 cents.
CW
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