Update Re: Amazon

We have resolved the issues with Amazon.com related to our 11/11/10 letter (click here) regarding their selling of products that promoted criminal activities. As a result, we have decided to continue in the Amazon.com Associates program.

Please note that we have discussed the matter with Amazon.com representatives via phone and via their website. Since our initial letter, Amazon.com (or their representatives):

* notified us they have pulled the offensive book that caused the controversy

* pulled other books by the same author (according to media reports)

* provided us with a verbal apology

* indicated they were "shocked" that the book appeared on their site

* informed us that, in the future, items will be reviewed by their "I.T. guys" before being placed on the site

* both "promised" and "assured" us that the situation would not happen again

Therefore, we feel we can continue as an Amazon.com Associate. Please note: Our continuation in this program does not mean we agree with all aspects of their handling of this matter, nor does it mean we agree with all of Amazon.com's offerings (we certainly do not).

Also, in retrospect, we believe we may have acted somewhat hastily in our initial response as we failed to fully appreciate the positive effect on corporate responsibility which can result from customers' efforts to resolve such situations. We thank those who contacted Amazon and urged them to resolve this matter. Your efforts made a difference!

We plan to integrate more Amazon.com links to our site as soon as possible and hope for a mutually beneficial relationship among all parties.

[11/23]

Amazon Scandal Update

We have received a response from Amazon.com to our 11/11/10 letter (click here) which criticized Amazon's selling of products that promote criminal activities & harm innocent victims. In response to Amazon's reply, we sent another message to Amazon. We are awaiting their response to our second note before a decision is made regarding our future participation in the Amazon Associates program. We plan to post future update(s) here, so please check back soon. In the meantime, we encourage Catholics to contact Amazon.com and demand that: (1) Amazon not sell products promoting illegal activities which harm innocent victims, and (2) that Amazon apologize for past offerings which have promoted such activities. Let your voice be heard!

[11/13]

My Catholic Source.com Letter to Amazon.com: We are NOT willing to 'sell our soul'

MyCatholicSource.com recently joined the Amazon.com Associates program. In light of shocking revelations concerning recent Amazon.com offerings, we have submitted the following letter to Amazon...

[Note: Formatting below not in original. We have also corrected an error that appeared in the original text ('financially' vs. 'financial')]

Advisory: Contains disturbing references

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November 11, 2010

From: MyCatholicSource.com, a new member of the Amazon Associates program

To: Whom It May Concern @ Amazon.com

We recently entered the Amazon Associates program and have spent many hours preparing links to products sold on Amazon.com that we thought may be of value to our site's visitors. We are personally familiar with some of these products and thought they may be excellent materials for Catholics (e.g. certain Catholic books). Your Amazon Associates program offered us a unique opportunity to earn 'commissions' on a wide variety of products sold through your site that our visitors may like and we looked forward to an ongoing relationship with you that we hoped would be mutually beneficial to all parties.

However, just prior to our adding these links to various pages throughout our site (currently we have added only links for Amazon.com gift certificates), we came across a news story highlighting highly offensive products sold on Amazon.com. Most recently, you sold a guide for pedophiles and are taking pre-orders for a book on how to smuggle cocaine. A previous offering of yours apparently included a "first-person video game in which the protagonist stalks and then rapes a mother and her daughters". It was shocking to us that you would sell such items to the public on your own site, especially considering that when we applied to the Amazon Associates program, you supposedly weeded out "unsuitable sites". The Amazon.com Associates agreement states that...

"To begin the enrollment process, you must submit a complete and accurate Program application. You must identify your site in your application. We will evaluate your application and notify you of its acceptance or rejection. We may reject your application if we determine that your site is unsuitable. Unsuitable sites include those that:

(a) promote or contain sexually explicit materials;

(b) promote violence or contain violent materials;

(c) promote or contain libelous or defamatory materials;

(d) promote discrimination, or employ discriminatory practices, based on race, sex, religion, nationality, disability, sexual orientation, or age;

(e) promote or undertake illegal activities"

Yet even on your very own site, you violate your rules!

Furthermore, we are shocked and appalled to read that Amazon.com apparently stood by its decision to sell the guide for pedophiles (the description of the item was reportedly as follows: "This is my attempt to make pedophile situations safer for those juveniles that find themselves involved in them, by establishing certian [sic] rules for these adults to follow" and reportedly also stated that "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 liter sentences should they ever be caught."). In response to the outrage, it was reported that Amazon stated that "Amazon believes it is censorship not to sell certain books simply because we or others believe their message is objectionable" and that "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 is highly immoral and cowardly of Amazon to promote criminal (CRIMINAL!) behavior under the guise of rejecting 'censorship'. It also seems duplicitous of you to argue on such grounds given your own guidelines for "unacceptable sites". There is no justification for such evil criminal behavior which your offerings promote - criminal behavior which harms BOTH victims and society as a whole.

We plan to terminate our agreement with you if Amazon does not swiftly rectify this situation and issue an apology. You may be willing to 'sell your soul', but we are not. We hope we will be able to achieve financial viability even without the Amazon.com Associates program. However, even if we cannot do so, we will at least be able to sleep at night.

Signed: MyCatholicSource.com (a division of B.F.S.)

P.S. This message will be published on our site / blog / etc. Be advised that any response from you may likewise be published on our site / blog / newsletter / etc.

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[11/11]