Quote:
Originally Posted by Penforhire
screwballl, I'm not saying they are "bad" when they become a defacto monopoly but you need to recognize we treat those differently, at least in America, and they have a greater responsibility to behave in a neutral fashion.
So we can't just sit there and say "so what." We sit here and say, "clean up your act" when Amazon starts waving around a censorship stick.
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I understand that perspective of it. In the case of Microsoft, they made their business doing what it does well, but they were also caught doing illegal or at least unscrupulous things such as bullying OEMs to carry only Windows and drop linux. In the end, they still win and a few million paid out for legal fees is worth the added billions in forced sales their bullying caused. Even after their withdrawal of "bullish tactics", linux based computers from OEMs are still next to impossible to find these days because the OEMs are still afraid of the bully. Only now is the Google giant standing up and releasing their open source linux based Android OS. It takes one giant to fight another.
Relating to Amazon, if they choose to NOT carry a title, we have the right to go elsewhere. We have no right to force, demand or expect Amazon to carry any thing specific, they are allowed to carry or not carry what they want, they are allowed to censor whatever content they feel the need to and we cannot say jack squat about it outside of voicing opinions. But demanding they stop censoring in the name of "fairness" is communist practice, not an opinion.
Your local Christian bookstore can choose not to carry books on subject X, Y and Z, whereas Amazon may choose to not carry only Z. It doesn't matter if the business makes $10,000 per year or $100 million per year, the same freedom to run your business as you choose still applies.
They have NO responsibility to behave in a neutral fashion, thats the great thing about freedom of speech and freedom of running your own business. If you choose to not sell something or deal with specific subjects, you have every right to do so. Just as you have the right to state your opinion about it, that doesn't mean they will change their business practice.