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The unfortunate thing is that people let their like or dislike of a company color how they think the guys with the guns should treat that company. If you dislike Apple, then the government should bash Apple at every opportunity and who cares if they have to bend some laws to do it. You don't like Amazon because your favorite independent book seller went out of business, then the government should bash Amazon and who cares if they have to bend the rules a bit.
The problem with that approach is a government that bends the rules to go after a company you dislike is just as likely to do the same to go after a company you like, and when that happens, your moral outrage is dismissed as the hypocrisy that it is. We are all a lot better off if the government stayed out of such disputes. If I don't like Amazon, then I don't have to buy from them. If I don't like Apple, then I don't have to buy from them. If I don't like Google, then there are other search engines out there.
If Amazon and Hachette are in a contract dispute, then there are other online bookstores that carry Hachette. I just let Amazon know that their strong arm tactics have inconvenienced me and that I'm taking my business else where. If enough people do that, then Amazon will cave. It's not all that different than the various contract disputes that gets channels pulled from cable TV providers for a while.
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