Letter to Amazon.com
9 January 2000
Amazon.com, Inc.
P.O. Box 81226
Seattle, WA 98108-1226
Dear Sir or Madam,
I just wanted to let you know that I'll be heeding the call by Richard Stallman of the GNU Project to boycott Amazon.com ( http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/amazon.html). The reason for the boycott is your attempt to patent the practice of giving a client browser a cookie to permit later orders to be made without re-entering credit card and mailing information. This simple practice is obvious to anyone who knows anything about web programming, and it is immoral for you to take advantage of the current lax standards for obtaining patents in the U.S. to attempt to extort money from anyone who makes use of such an obvious mechanism.
I note that you are claiming that it took "thousands of hours" to develop your online ordering system. This may well be true, but it did not take you thousands of hours to think up the idea of using cookies to allow users to order without re-entering their personal information. This idea is what I understand the patent to cover, and any competent web programmer could think of this idea in a moment. Cookies were invented for this sort of use. I think you underestimate the intelligence of the public if you think that we will be convinced by your "thousands of hours" argument.
This is the second time in less than a year that moral concerns have forced me to stop doing business with you. Previously, your legal counsel asked inappropriate questions regarding the sexual orientation of the owners of Amazon Bookstore. When the case was settled out of court, I reluctantly decided to give you another chance. I have to say that I am very disappointed; while the first offense might be attributed to a moment of poor judgment by your legal counsel, this second offense is far more grave in its consequences and can only be the product of a systematic institutional effort.
I wish you would realize that this kind of immorality is bad business. It is so convenient to buy books from you that I would really prefer to continue to do business with you. However, you're attempting to claim ownership of something that you do not and cannot own. Your short-sighted abuse of the patent system will have the effect of stifling web commerce, and is part of a larger problem which is making it nearly impossible to software developers to continue to create. As convenient as it is to buy books from you, I can't justify giving my dollars to a business concern which is acting in a manner so strongly contrary to the common good.
I hope that you will take this opportunity to reconsider your actions and to begin to hold yourselves to a higher moral standard. If you wish to contact me, you may do so at the address above or at [CONTACT LINK BELOW]. This letter has been publicly posted at http://www.ling.upenn.edu/~kurisuto/amazon.html.
Sincerely,
Sean Crist
Here is the response which Amazon sent me.
Dear Mr. Crist,
Thank you for writing to Amazon.com with your feedback.
Ease of use on the site is one of our intentions, and I apologize if the use of cookies seems to belong to a different category in your estimation.
We use cookies as a method to recognize a customer automatically whenever a returning user re-visits our site. Cookies are necessary for 1-Click Shopping, and they are integral in making the Shopping Cart and Instant Recommendations work efficiently.
If you would like to refuse all cookies and not receive a warning message, you might look into acquiring a copy of Netscape Navigator 4.0 or Internet Explorer 4.0. Both of these browsers provide this option.
Without cookies, you will still be able to use most of the features of our site. In particular, you will be able to order items by placing them in your shopping cart and then clicking "Proceed to Checkout" to place your order.
Thank you once again for your letter and the opinions you express.
Please don't hesitate to contact us should you have any further questions, and thanks for shopping at Amazon.com!
Best regards,
Blair Sweeney
Amazon.com
http://www.amazon.com/
Earth's Biggest Selection