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There is a larger problem here: there seems to be no way to hold these big internet companies to account for misrepresenting their product offerings. For exampl

There is a larger problem here: there seems to be no way to hold these big internet companies to account for misrepresenting their product offerings. For example, some time ago, someone on HN reported on a plagiarized Python book for sale on Amazon. (https://www.amazon.com/Python-Programming-Beginner-Intermediate-Advanced-ebook/dp/B07N4QDH92 https://www.amazon.com/Python-Programming-Beginner-Intermedi...). I emailed the author of the original book,(October 4) because Amazon have a form that allows authors to report plagiarism. This is what he replied to me: "Thank you for your note. Someone else discovered this and notified me three weeks ago. I went to the Amazon copyright infringement webpage and filled out the form. The automated email told me to expect a formal response in 1-2 business days. That was three weeks ago, and I’m still waiting." So Amazon have, for more than a month, been told that they are selling a stolen book. And yet the listing is still there. Now if I reported that my local bricks-and-mortar second-hand store was selling my stolen TV set, I'll bet that the police would be there pretty quickly. But Amazon and BnB can sell stolen goods or misrepresent offerings with impunity. This is not right.

calmworm 7y ago
Amazon is one of the worst offenders for facilitating scams and doing nothing about it.
puranjay 7y ago
At this point, ordering certain products from Amazon is basically playing Counterfeit Roulette. You never know if that bag is a real Michael Kors or a Chinese knock off
erichocean 7y ago
> So Amazon have, for more than a month, been told that they are selling a stolen book. And yet the listing is still there. If Amazon acted quickly, you could easily take down the listings of your competitors simply by making false claims—which has happened in the past.
- ric2b 7y ago
  Acting quickly does not mean acting blindly. And getting a human to start looking into it within a week isn't that much to ask.
edmundsauto 7y ago
I wonder what the response times across, say, US cities, looks like for police response to a stolen TV set. Copyright infringement is different than physical theft, so I would expect a much faster response to the latter. A better comparison would be if you reported a shop was selling pirated DVDs. That would compare Amazon's response time to that of the police, instead of comparing across different kinds of crimes.
rahimnathwani 7y ago
"Now if I reported that my local bricks-and-mortar second-hand store was selling my stolen TV set" Yes, but an analogous situation here would be if your local bricks-and-mortar store were selling a TV that looked and worked just like yours, but was made by a different company. What (if anything) do you expect your local police would do if you reported that?
- shard972 7y ago
  No thats a terrible analogy unless your some silly an cap who believes that all IP shouldn't exist.
- Marsymars 7y ago
  In America, it seems the FBI would the appropriate place to report counterfeit goods at a brick-and-mortar retailer, not the local police.
paulddraper 7y ago
"Stolen TV set at brick-and-mortar" isn't the right analogy. "Plagiarized book at brick-and mortar" is. And the fact is that copyrights/patents/trademarks are handled differently than theft.

calmworm 7y ago

Amazon is one of the worst offenders for facilitating scams and doing nothing about it.

puranjay 7y ago

At this point, ordering certain products from Amazon is basically playing Counterfeit Roulette. You never know if that bag is a real Michael Kors or a Chinese knock off

erichocean 7y ago

> So Amazon have, for more than a month, been told that they are selling a stolen book. And yet the listing is still there. If Amazon acted quickly, you could easily take down the listings of your competitors simply by making false claims—which has happened in the past.

ric2b 7y ago
Acting quickly does not mean acting blindly. And getting a human to start looking into it within a week isn't that much to ask.

edmundsauto 7y ago

I wonder what the response times across, say, US cities, looks like for police response to a stolen TV set. Copyright infringement is different than physical theft, so I would expect a much faster response to the latter. A better comparison would be if you reported a shop was selling pirated DVDs. That would compare Amazon's response time to that of the police, instead of comparing across different kinds of crimes.

rahimnathwani 7y ago

"Now if I reported that my local bricks-and-mortar second-hand store was selling my stolen TV set" Yes, but an analogous situation here would be if your local bricks-and-mortar store were selling a TV that looked and worked just like yours, but was made by a different company. What (if anything) do you expect your local police would do if you reported that?

shard972 7y ago
No thats a terrible analogy unless your some silly an cap who believes that all IP shouldn't exist.
Marsymars 7y ago
In America, it seems the FBI would the appropriate place to report counterfeit goods at a brick-and-mortar retailer, not the local police.

paulddraper 7y ago

"Stolen TV set at brick-and-mortar" isn't the right analogy. "Plagiarized book at brick-and mortar" is. And the fact is that copyrights/patents/trademarks are handled differently than theft.