Filed under: Internet, Technology | Tags: amazon, firefox, pirates of amazon, the pirate bay
Repository of satirical genius the interwebz often is, it is also home to some exceptionally humourless gits.
Amazon’s lawyers, for example.
Twitter users will have seen the update from torrent-track service The Pirate Bay last week, revealing a funky Firefox add-on. The Pirates of the Amazon app stuck a ‘download 4 free’ button onto Amazon search pages, directing users looking for merchandise to the relevant torrent on The Pirate Bay where they could get it…for free! Stuff you, supersaver delivery.
The application was the brainchild of a couple of European exchange students who took their website down after legal threats from Amazon. Their slightly unconvincing defence is that Pirates of the Amazon is an ‘artistic parody’. Oh please. You’re about as funny as the lawyers after all.
Tutor Florian Cramer has rallied behind his students, reiterating their defence and calling attention to
the openly hostile and aggressive Internet user comments in blogs and on digg.com…the majority of commentators failed to see the highly parodistic and artistic nature of “Pirates of the Amazon”.
It’s hardly the new Rothko, but sure, commentators have failed to see the irony.
I will lead the revolt when can’t wait until P2P becomes legitimate. But currently, a small spiteful part of me can’t help but feel this is a much-needed payback. Almost 8 years ago – yes, back in the days of geek 2.0 – Amazon did quite a naughty thing by charging different customers different prices for the same merchandise. If you were a regular customer, cookies installed on your computer told Amazon whether you might buy cheaply or expensively. Did you always buy paperback, or would you fork out for the hard copy? No cookies at all told Amazon that you might be a first time customer.
So Amazon decided to hook the more flitty customers with bigger discounts. Fine, if it wasn’t offering the same merchandise to its loyal customers…at the regular price. Oops. Customers eventually noticed when, having deleted cookies on their computers, the same DVD would be cheaper on their second login and naturally kicked up a huge fuss. Don’t worry, this doesn’t happen any more, but they have developed other tactics. Ever wonder why Amazon keeps an eye on what you look at before suggesting similar items? That’s targeted marketing, and it works just as well.
So frankly, no sympathy for the big guys. A little bit of internet justice has been meted out. Merry Christmas!
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If you don’t like Amazon now, wait till you’ve read this…
Comment by studentjournalist December 15, 2008 @ 7:35 amhttp://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/retailing/article5337770.ece
That’s astonishing. Penalty points for sick leave?
Comment by shonaghosh December 15, 2008 @ 6:55 pm