Burying their head in the sand

[ffutures]

Amazon REALLY don't want to know if their "vendors" are selling pirated disks. I bought Bones S5 a week or so ago, it was obviously counterfeit on arrival, and there appears to be no way to handle this other than returning the DVD to the seller and hoping that I eventually get a refund. Meanwhile the same guy is selling another copy of the same set of DVDs, "Used - as new"

Don't Amazon think it's a little odd that people have an endless supply of used copies of the same DVD set?

Comments

[gonzo21.livejournal.com]

I guess so long as they keep getting their 30%.

Did the vendor not have lots of negative reviews though?

Or would most people not spot that they are pirated discs?

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Not many - looking back there were a few, but I had to go back several pages to spot another complaining of pirated disks. I suspect that a lot of people turn a blind eye to the fact that their disks stink of ink, have no security hologram, etc.

[heliograph.livejournal.com]

I'd wager a majority of people can't identify a pirated anything. I've seen people who I'd otherwise assume were rational, well-informed folks accept:

- Fake virus alerts, in one case multiple times
- A $20 bill with Apple and Microsoft logos on it
- Clearly hand-made ID cards to verify age for purchasing alcohol

Humans have an amazing ability to ignore detail. It lets them live their lives.

If a vendor buys and sells used dvds, it is plausible that they'd have more than one. However, I've seen eBay and Amazon vendors list having 100 copies of one of Heliograph's books available, and I know without fear of correction that that is 100% impossible. Here's a fun example:

http://www.betterworldbooks.com/Airship-Troopers-id-9781930658219.aspx

I've dealt with Amazon as a vendor, and I can promise you it is no fun from that end, either. They don't talk to you as an individual, and it is nearly impossible to get a human response out of them. It doesn't surprise me that don't do any monitoring.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Bloody hell. Did you try reporting it to the FBI?

[heliograph.livejournal.com]

Which part?

Of all of those, I only reported the counterfeit $20. The couple trying to pass it at a theater were arguing about it (the female of the species had been suspicious, but the boyfriend took it anyway), and when I tried to take it off their hands they declined, though they did show it to me. And that was the Secret Service, too, not the FBI ;-)

The $20 was a real thing of beauty. It came out about the time the US redesigned the $20, and it proved people didn't know what money should look like anymore. It had logos for Microsoft, Apple, Nike, Coke, Pepsi, and a few others, large and prominent, but otherwise looked pretty good. And really, think of the revenue the gov't could get if they sold ad space on money!

More recently the owner at a shop I frequent refused a $5 from someone because he thought it looked fake (it really, really did, but it was real legal tender). I'm not sure that the way the US has been churning through designs isn't helping counterfeiters more than it is deterring them.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

The copyright violation thing re your book - aren't the FBI supposed to handle that? If not, why do US films have an FBI warning?

[heliograph.livejournal.com]

It isn't a copyright violation. Much like when kids say they are 99 to avoid age restrictions, their electronic systems are lying to make it look like they have a lot of stock... they aren't making the books themselves. Ditto for your pirated DVDs: they say they have a lot of them, but I think that's just shorthand for "we can make (or in the case of our books, buy) as many as we want."