Amazon UK Listing Wikileaks Cables for Sale on Kindle

Update: See comments section. The Next Web ...
Amazon UK Listing Wikileaks Cables for Sale on Kindle
Written by Chris Crum
  • Update: See comments section.

    The Next Web discovered that someone is selling the infamous Wikileaks cables at Amazon UK to be read on the Kindle. This is interesting for a variety of reasons. 

    Reason 1 

    Amazon Web Services recently stopped hosting the cables, claiming Wikieaks was violating its terms of service. A statement from the company said:

    Amazon Web Services (AWS) rents computer infrastructure on a self-service basis. AWS does not pre-screen its customers, but it does have terms of service that must be followed. WikiLeaks was not following them. There were several parts they were violating. For example, our terms of service state that “you represent and warrant that you own or otherwise control all of the rights to the content… that use of the content you supply does not violate this policy and will not cause injury to any person or entity.” It’s clear that WikiLeaks doesn’t own or otherwise control all the rights to this classified content. Further, it is not credible that the extraordinary volume of 250,000 classified documents that WikiLeaks is publishing could have been carefully redacted in such a way as to ensure that they weren’t putting innocent people in jeopardy. Human rights organizations have in fact written to WikiLeaks asking them to exercise caution and not release the names or identities of human rights defenders who might be persecuted by their governments.

    Reason 2

    Amazon is the latest target of Operation Payback, the hacker group that took down MasterCard.com and Visa.com, according to numerous reports. In that same statement, Amazon had already said, "There were indeed large-scale DDOS attacks, but they were successfully defended against."

    So far, Amazon.com is still up and running. 

    Reason 3

    Both the user who is selling the cables at Amazon UK and Amazon itself would theoretically make money from the sale of what was originally free public data. 

    Wikileaks Cables on Amazon UK

    Reason 4

    Amazon has recently been the subject of another publication controversy involving the sale of a pedophile guidebook. Many are already pointing out that this is the second big blunder from the company involving self-publishing, and some are questioning whether Amazon will have to rethink its strategy in this area.

    Reason 5

    Amazon has yet to terminate the Wikileaks cables listing. it’s currently on sale for £7.37. It will most likely be pulled as the story gains more media coverage, but for now, it’s still up. 

    In the product description on Amazon UK, it says, "The Author will analyze the documents more thoroughly in a subsequent article."

    One reviewer says, "Hm, would Amazon let me buy this using my PayPal account? What about my Visa or Mastercard?"  

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