Here is an article in the New York Times about the Amazon sales rank problem and Amazon’s response.
One of the activist against Amazon has this quote in the article:
Mr. Kramer said on Monday that he was willing to shelve the boycott for now. But in an e-mail message he wrote: “I don’t think for one second that this was a glitch,” adding, “We have to now keep a more diligent eye on Amazon and how they handle the world’s cultural heritage.”
Wow! Now Amazon is responsible for the world’s cultural heritage. Oh well, one less thing librarians need to worry about.
Amazon’s problem: transparency.
As we can see, Amazon is watched by many people and any transgression is reported.
But what about the brick and mortar store that puts your book on the bottom shelf or leaves it in the stockroom? What about the store manager who doesn’t approve of the material and doesn’t do his best to sell it? We never hear those stories.