Washington: Online retail giant Amazon has come under fire for selling a self-published digital book called 'The Pedophile's Guide to Love and Pleasure'.
The reviews page for the book, by a Phillip R Greaves and available for Amazon's Kindle electronic reader, was deluged with criticism of the Seattle, Washington-based Amazon for offering it for sale.
"This is a joke, right? What reputable business would even consider allowing this book to be sold from their website?" said a visitor identified as 'Emerald Storm'. "This is absolutely despicable."
"Shame on Amazon for allowing such garbage to be sold on its site," said another with the handle "thirty something”.
The book, whose full title is 'The Pedophile's Guide to Love and Pleasure: A Child-Lover's Code of Conduct', had received more than 305 "reviews" with 297 giving it a one-star rating, the lowest possible.
Most of the "reviews" were appeals to Amazon to remove the book.
"Amazon, you might want to consider taking this horrid book off your website if you want to have any business this holiday season," wrote 'ecirtap'.
"Shame on you, Amazon, for allowing a book like this to be uploaded for purchase! This book gives advice to people about something that is ILLEGAL in every state in this nation. It needs to be removed from the site immediately," wrote another customer.
In a statement distributed to TechCrunch and other technology blogs Amazon said it "believes it is censorship not to sell certain books simply because we or others believe their message is objectionable.”
"Amazon does not support or promote hatred or criminal acts, however, we do support the right of every individual to make their own purchasing decisions," it said.
In a product description to sell the book, the author frames it as an attempt "to make paedophile situations safer for those juveniles that find themselves involved in them, by establishing certain rules for these adults to follow”.
"I hope to achieve this by appealing to the better nature of pedosexuals, with hope that their doing so will result in less hatred and perhaps lighter sentences should they ever be caught," Greaves says.
PTI
First Published: Thursday, November 11, 2010, 11:38