3 ms·

What harm has been demonstrated by this supposed conspiracy to set prices? Do you pay one penny more for your e-books? I don't. The whole thing seems like a

What harm has been demonstrated by this supposed conspiracy to set prices? Do you pay one penny more for your e-books? I don't. The whole thing seems like a technicality, a violation of a 110-year-old law that was never intended to cover this type of complex digital transaction.

maxxxxx 11y ago
It's a law. A lot of laws are old and don't apply to the present anymore but the little guy still has to obey them. They can lobby for a law change but it's not acceptable that people/entities with lots of money can decide which laws they obey and which not.
- sjwright 11y ago
  Everyone makes that decision every hour of the day. We're all constantly breaking one obscure law or another.
  - RodericDay 11y ago
    Tolerance of this kind of situation is what pushes North America closer and closer to Kafkaesque nightmares though.
    - donatj 11y ago
      Tolerance of victimless crimes that hurt no one is a Kafkaesque nightmare?
      - RodericDay 11y ago
        Letting "victimless crimes" exist in the books for whenever a powerful entity wants an excuse to jail someone, or to excuse inequitable enforcement of the law.
        donatj 11y ago
        Ah, I actually agree with that in it's entirety.
      - maxxxxx 11y ago
        If the law is stupid then congress should cancel (delete?) it. Don't allow big guys avoid them but the little guy with no lawyers on retainer has to follow then.
  - scintill76 11y ago
    Right, and this fine is somewhat like fining an individual $0.10 for jaywalking. They'll probably decide it was worth the risk and keep doing the illegal thing, like Apple in this case or HSBC with lax anti-money-laundering compliance. The point is that these things won't be deterred until the people responsible are at risk of going to prison, or doing something else they're not going to gladly write-off as a cost of business.
sbov 11y ago
Actually, you did pay more, at least at the time of the court filing. “The increases at Amazon within roughly two weeks of moving to agency amounted to an average per unit e-book retail price increase of 14.2% for their New Releases, 42.7% for their NYT Bestsellers, and 18.6% across all of the Publisher Defendants’ e-books,” https://www.justice.gov/atr/case-document/file/486691/download https://www.justice.gov/atr/case-document/file/486691/downlo... I'm not sure how prices have adjusted since then though.
URSpider94 11y ago
You absolutely pay more. Every time you go on Amazon and look up an Ebook priced over $9.99, and it carries a note that says, "this price was set by the publisher," that's a book that Amazon would sell you for less money if the publisher let them. It's hard to find a clearer-cut case of price fixing.
lmm 11y ago
> What harm has been demonstrated by this supposed conspiracy to set prices? Do you pay one penny more for your e-books? I don't. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2013/07/10/a-judge-says-apple-fixed-e-book-prices-this-chart-shows-how-they-did-it/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2013/07/10/a-jud...

maxxxxx 11y ago

It's a law. A lot of laws are old and don't apply to the present anymore but the little guy still has to obey them. They can lobby for a law change but it's not acceptable that people/entities with lots of money can decide which laws they obey and which not.

sjwright 11y ago
Everyone makes that decision every hour of the day. We're all constantly breaking one obscure law or another.
- RodericDay 11y ago
  Tolerance of this kind of situation is what pushes North America closer and closer to Kafkaesque nightmares though.
  - donatj 11y ago
    Tolerance of victimless crimes that hurt no one is a Kafkaesque nightmare?
    - RodericDay 11y ago
      Letting "victimless crimes" exist in the books for whenever a powerful entity wants an excuse to jail someone, or to excuse inequitable enforcement of the law.
      - donatj 11y ago
        Ah, I actually agree with that in it's entirety.
    - maxxxxx 11y ago
      If the law is stupid then congress should cancel (delete?) it. Don't allow big guys avoid them but the little guy with no lawyers on retainer has to follow then.
- scintill76 11y ago
  Right, and this fine is somewhat like fining an individual $0.10 for jaywalking. They'll probably decide it was worth the risk and keep doing the illegal thing, like Apple in this case or HSBC with lax anti-money-laundering compliance. The point is that these things won't be deterred until the people responsible are at risk of going to prison, or doing something else they're not going to gladly write-off as a cost of business.

sbov 11y ago

Actually, you did pay more, at least at the time of the court filing. “The increases at Amazon within roughly two weeks of moving to agency amounted to an average per unit e-book retail price increase of 14.2% for their New Releases, 42.7% for their NYT Bestsellers, and 18.6% across all of the Publisher Defendants’ e-books,” https://www.justice.gov/atr/case-document/file/486691/download https://www.justice.gov/atr/case-document/file/486691/downlo... I'm not sure how prices have adjusted since then though.

URSpider94 11y ago

You absolutely pay more. Every time you go on Amazon and look up an Ebook priced over $9.99, and it carries a note that says, "this price was set by the publisher," that's a book that Amazon would sell you for less money if the publisher let them. It's hard to find a clearer-cut case of price fixing.

lmm 11y ago

> What harm has been demonstrated by this supposed conspiracy to set prices? Do you pay one penny more for your e-books? I don't. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2013/07/10/a-judge-says-apple-fixed-e-book-prices-this-chart-shows-how-they-did-it/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2013/07/10/a-jud...