Quote:
Originally Posted by fjtorres
The DOJ is in for a treat. Whether or not Preston actually mails his rant, Konrath is going to mail his formal reply. In his normal style. 
That should make the day of whoever is actually tasked with opening the Deputy AG's mail:
http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/2015/0...-attorney.html
It'll probably end up on the bulletin board by the water cooler.
Comments on the source suggests there is interest in an online petition.
Would be fun to see a petition force a response from the White House. |
Preston's letter doesn't have any legal substance to it so the DoJ is just going to ignore it anyway. They might laugh at it and they might get pissed off at him wasting their time but it won't go anywhere. The intent of Preston's letter is so that media organizations that are 'friendly' to the publisher cartel can write inflammatory headlines. It's simple propaganda, repeat the same message from multiple sources and people will believe it must be true. The bizarre thing is that there is no end game here. During the contract negotiations it put some pressure on Amazon and I'm sure the publishing cartel loved to see it. Now it's just annoying noise like children screaming in the next room.
Konrath's letter isn't going to stop the propaganda machine but it's direction-less propaganda so it doesn't really need stopping. It might help some neutral media organizations write a balanced story about it but they're not likely to pick it up. "Author's have a hissy fit over nothing" doesn't make a compelling headline.
Amazon has put themselves in a position where there is a large opportunity for abuse. If they do violate US antitrust laws I hope they are investigated and charged. Until there is evidence of criminal violations they don't deserve to be slander in the media. That should be reserved for known criminals like the publishing cartel.
I hope that's the intent of Konrath's letter. Remind the publishers who the real criminals are and send a message to them to make their whining children shut up.