Daniel Ellsberg Says Boycott Amazon

Open letter to Amazon.com Customer Service:

December 2, 2010

I’m disgusted by Amazon’s cowardice and servility in abruptly terminating today its hosting of the Wikileaks website, in the face of threats from Senator Joe Lieberman and other Congressional right-wingers. I want no further association with any company that encourages legislative and executive officials to aspire to China’s control of information and deterrence of whistle-blowing.

For the last several years, I’ve been spending over $100 a month on new and used books from Amazon. That’s over. I ask Amazon to terminate immediately my membership in Amazon Prime and my Amazon credit card and account, to delete my contact and credit information from their files and to send me no more notices.

I understand that many other regular customers feel as I do and are responding the same way. Good: the broader and more immediate the boycott, the better. I hope that these others encourage their contact lists to do likewise and to let Amazon know exactly why they’re shifting their business. I’ve asked friends today to suggest alternatives, and I’ll be exploring service from Powell’s Books, Half-Price Books, Biblio and others.

So far Amazon has spared itself the further embarrassment of trying to explain its action openly. This would be a good time for Amazon insiders who know and perhaps can document the political pressures that were brought to bear–and the details of the hasty kowtowing by their bosses–to leak that information. They can send it to Wikileaks (now on servers outside the US), to mainstream journalists or bloggers, or perhaps to sites like antiwar.com that have now appropriately ended their book-purchasing association with Amazon.

Yours (no longer),
Daniel Ellsberg

29 thoughts on “Daniel Ellsberg Says Boycott Amazon”

  1. Closed my account right when I read what amazon did. I agree that amazon has the right to do business with who they choose, but this seems like it was obvious new blanketing. The odd thing is, I found out just how often American politics blanket news by reading books I bought from amazon. Their response to this was obvious B.S., and it is so easy to go to a different website and order the same product for the same price.

  2. Bye bye Amazon. No using services from a company who can't stand for the people's right.!

    Cheers from India!

  3. i DELETED 5 amazon accounts…omg who needed them anyway!! maybe thy will realize that the american people are more powerfull than the rulers!!!
    REVOLT!!

  4. Amazon must have missed Hillary Clinton's speech on internet freedom –

    [ While stressing the need for stronger law enforcement measures to counter hackers who target US interests, Clinton also urged American companies to take a “principled stand” against online censorship, calling on major industry players to convene in the coming months to discuss censorship and their responsibilities towards users.

    Discussing the current overall degradation of freedom of expression, Clinton told her audience that, as the “birthplace” of so many online technologies, the United States had a “responsibility” to protect the Internet as a tool for economic and social development and promoting democracy, as well as a place for the free exchange of ideas. “We stand for a single Internet where all of humanity has equal access to knowledge and ideas,” she added. ]

    from Reporters Without Borders

  5. Amazon account deleted! Here is my letter to them : I would like to have my Amazon account permanently deleted, due to Amazon's sudden termination of Wikileaks hosting service, and also because of Amazon's submissive coinciding with forces that oppose freedom of speech.

  6. amazon account closed yesterday and my paypal account will be closed in the next few minutes. thanks people for the information.

  7. it takes 24 hrs to get approved on this site to post a comment -now that is disgraceful.
    Now, Amazon can sell books that show pedophiles how not to get caught, but they cannot host Wikileaks? And whoever runs amazon has to check his head since his brain is missing.

    1. I just sent this to Amazon: You have behaved cowardly in blocking Wikileak's account facilities with you. I will not tolerate such unprofessional procedure and less so if, and I say even if, Mr. Lieberman & Co think they have a 'good reason' or more rights than any of their constituency or people. Shame on Amazon.
      CLOSE ACCOUNT!

  8. The boycott should be expanded, most especially to include PayPal.

    It's never to early to begin fight fascism.

    1. Exactly the same thing happened with me… It is a tactic a lot of big companies use, when a customer wants to do something that is not beneficial for the company, ie cancel account, get refund etc.
      They know the more hoops they make customers jump through, the greater the percentage will give up before getting what they desire.
      A Sly Dog Tactic.

  9. I don't know if anyone mentioned it yet, but canceling your account will only do a nearly immeasurable amount of harm to their ego, and actually save them a few millionths of a cent a year. Here is what I propose:

    1. Find products you want via services like google shopping, pricegrabber, pricewatch, etc.
    2. Find comparable products on Amazon storefronts (not sold by Amazon directly, but by smaller vendors.)
    3. Contact said vendors with a note that you will not be buying from them, as they are supporting Amazon.
    4. Buy from the best vendor without Amazon storefronts.

    When there is attrition of corporate accounts, they will notice.

  10. Change to Microsoft AZURE for cloud computing, and use Bookseller´s own websites for buying books.
    As for hosted servers and accounts, use anything that is not American.

  11. Done. Life without Amazon will not be the same! it is however a very small price to pay to show that giving in to pressures while also trying to save face when justifying its support to censorship, is bad for business.

  12. I will continue to do business with Amazon. Here's why. I suspect that Amazon is a victim here and not a villain.

    It's cowardice to turn your wallet over to an unarmed 10 year old who demands it. It's prudence to turn your wallet over to a 250 lb thug who puts a gun to your head. Did Lieberman approach Amazon as the 10 year old or the armed thug? I would argue that he is the armed thug.

    By any definition, America is now a fascist police state. We are chained down with tens of thousands of federal, state and local laws and regulations. Thousands more are added each year. Few are there to make us safe. The purpose of the bulk of all this regulation is to extract wealth from the private sector and to control our lives for the benefit of growing bureaucracies and politically influential individuals and companies.

    Whether we know it or not, every single one of us is now guilty of something. A creative prosecutor can find something to pin on anyone whether it be an individual or a business. The penalties are always fines and often jail time.

    How many of you boycotters can withstand a personal or business income tax audit? The tax laws are so complicated that you probably can't. Are you sure that if the police searched your home they would find nothing incriminating? No guns, illicit drugs, "too much" cash, prescription drugs belonging to someone else, beer in a minor's room, unregistered pets, a booze still? An law abiding Colorado man recently received a 7 year jail sentence in NJ for legally transporting, a legally owned gun because he wasn't aware that the bullets, which are legal in Colorado, are illegal in NJ!

    Are you sure that if building inspectors swarmed your home or business they would find no violations? No work done without a permit? No activity or occupancy forbidden by your zoning district? Building, accessibility and zoning codes are 100s of pages long, hard to decipher and open to interpretation. It's a certainty that the inspectors will find something and you will be punished with a fine – if you're lucky.

    America is under unconstitutional 24/7 electronic surveillance. Every phone call, fax, email, internet search and visit is monitored and stored by state snoops. Are you boycotters sure that your personal electronic communication will reveal nothing embarrassing. Nothing that can ruin a marriage, reputation or career if you are threatened with blackmail? Are you sure you haven't made an anti-government remark which can be used to prosecute you for terrorism under the Domestic Terrorist Act? You and I aren't the only ones illegally spied on. So is every member of Congress. It makes sense that only compromised individuals are allowed to join that club. They are easy to control.

    If you run a business with employees are your certain that you fully comply with all reporting requirements? Are all your forms properly filled out? Are you in compliance with all labor laws? Can you say that you don't discriminate against any protected groups? Perhaps you can but a disgruntled employee could be induced by a prosecutor to beg to differ, and you can be prosecuted for something you didn't think you did. If you are an officer of a corporation are you sure that you're not guilty of violating SEC rules against insider trading? Remember that multi-millionairess, Martha Stewart, was eventually convicted and jailed not for $40,000 of insider trading but for lying to an FBI agent. They were determined to get her on something.

    In a countries, such as Nazi Germany or America today, that criminalize innocent behavior, we little people are unwittingly guilty of all kinds of crimes. As long as we keep a low profile, the state will not pursue us. The US Gestapo is after bigger fish such as Amazon. Amazon is a huge corporation. Its business success is undoubtedly the envy of lesser competitors with political connections who wouldn't mind to see it brought down.

    If the daily activities of us little people are vulnerable to minute government scrutiny and prosecution, what is the vulnerability of a high profile company such as Amazon if it refuses to go along with the likes of the odious Lieberman and his backers? How many of you Amazon boycotters would stick to principle if the government threatened to prosecute you for victimless crimes, honest mistakes or ignorance of inscrutable laws if you refused to do some dirty work for the state?

    Several years ago American telecom companies were illegally pressured by the NSA to turn over customer records. Except for Qwest, they all complied. Shortly afterward, Qwest lost $100s of millions of government contracts. The CEO was then prosecuted and convicted for insider trading which was later overturned on appeal. This witch hunt was meant to be a warning to those corporations which refuse to go along. Amazon has clearly gotten that message.

    The villain here is not Amazon. The villain is the vast apparatus of state coercion and control. That should be the focus of angry boycotts. We are all victims of a gigantic criminal conspiracy.

    1. ..as interesting and appealing, probably with quite a few facts, too, your comment is it remains a fact that both Amazon and Paypal (over)reacted w/o due notice or condieration. I do agree that "our" politicians have way too much power, period!! And witch hunt to whomever dares to oppose – how sad for an otherwise great country .. and it is spreading all over the world.
      Thanks for your thoughtful view on background realities.
      However, to make a solidarity statement, I will close my two Amazon accounts.

  13. The real crux of the question is – how much bullying is allowed?
    Senator Lieberman has set a precedent that the worlds Journalists, Bloggers and Tweeters need to be mindful of.
    Publish anything disrespectful of the current regime and get attacked.
    Where does it end?
    Will the Governments next step involve a high speed car accident?
    An unexplained bout of terminal food poisoning?
    An air crash ?
    My guess is that even if Julian is number 2 at the moment for Time Man of the Year, he may not live long enough to enjoy winning the title.

  14. Hats off AGAIN to Daniel Ellsberg who faced lifetimes in US custody for the PENTAGON PAPERS release, and of course to Julian Assange, Wikileaks and W Mirrors…some will remember Nixon unleashed the Cuban/CIA Watergate gusanos onto Daniel but prosecution was derailed to protect deeper secrets re the Bay of Pigs "can of worms" and dare I say it the Kennedy assassination/s.

  15. My Amazon and Paypal accounts have both been deleted today, and I will NEVER re-open them, or use any of their affiliates (anyone have a list of those, by the way?). I'll be damned if I'll watch the second McCarthy Era come without doing what I can.

    Down with censorship, and long live freedom of expression and information!

  16. RETURN EVERYTHING YOU CAN!
    "Returns Policy Overview
    You may return new, unopened items sold and fulfilled by Amazon.com within 30 days of delivery for a full refund. "

    "You may return a cell phone within the first 30 days after delivery by visiting our Online Returns Center."

  17. Does anybody else wonder what role this played in Amazon's decision?

    "Amazon to serve up more cloud services to government" (Oct 20, 2010)
    http://www.techflash.com/seattle/2010/10/amazon-t

    excerpt: "Amazon.com just took a major step forward in its effort to get government agencies using its cloud computing services. Amazon and a partner company, Apptis, just got approved to sell cloud-based "infrastructure-as-a-service" to federal, state, local, and tribal agencies through the U.S. government's high-profile Apps.gov website."

  18. I had a rather large order going into Amazon on Monday December 6th, 2010. That order will be redirected to one INDIE bookstore in the Pacific Northwest and to another INDIE bookstore in Houston, Texas.

    I wonder what amazon will look like on the NYSE, say around 5 minutes after opening

  19. Please note: Amazon is still selling numerous versions of "The Pentagon Papers," which would seem to violate its sense that it should only support material of which the authors "own or otherwise control all of the rights to the content".

    SO — Daniel Ellsberg stole the Pentagon Papers, the New York Times published it, and years later, Amazon.com sells it, including brand new Kindle versions. But Private Manning steals the cables, Wikileaks publishes it, and suddenly Amazon invokes its terms of service.

    Time for Amazon to scrub its store of all documents that include any leaked or confidential material…

    — Just a modest proposal.

  20. Guy who wondered if you'd all be so righteous if your company was vulnerable to state attack hits nail on head.
    If you really want a boycott, resign if you work for a corporation or a company with corporate leanings. You are who you work for. Better to live in a tent than be part of this.

  21. Just blocked access to Amazon on our company firewalls. Have sent a notice to all staff to use another source. I'm the Boss!

  22. Account closed, all links in ads on all sites I manage are purged of amazon and it's subsidiaries. I stand for freedom.

  23. “I’m disgusted by Amazon’s cowardice and servility”

    Ditto that and feel the same way about the Committee to Protect Journalists, CPJ; The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, RCFP; The Society of Professional Journalists, SPJ; and the National Coalition against Censorship. Cowards all.

    Kudos to Reporters without Borders, Salon.com, Atlantic, Reason Mag., Guardian UK and so many other outspoken proponents of Free Speech and the First Amendment.

    To heck with these blasted Shield Law proponents, their true colors coming through now: groveling to Congress to sell out our Free Speech for privilege of becoming a small, cowardly, credentialed, journalistic oligarchy. Doing anything they can to distance themselves from this

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