John,

We don’t think corporations should control what books are allowed to exist. Unfortunately, that’s the exact power that Amazon is intent on gaining.

For the past decade, Amazon has been trying to “replace the library card with a credit card”¹—but now they’re starting to sweat. Thanks to pressure from activists like us, librarians, and authors, they’ve taken a baby step in the right direction by allowing libraries access to a small portion of the ebooks and audiobooks they control for the first time.²

This small crack in their armor is the only sign we need to know that it’s time to up the pressure.

Can you donate to help us do that?

Amazon thinks that if they give an inch by allowing libraries to pay exorbitant licensing fees to access a sliver of the books they publish, we’ll let up—while meanwhile they do things like promote Kindle Unlimited authors over what their customers actually search for ³ and engage in price-fixing schemes that continue to force independent booksellers out of business.⁴

The thing is, digital rights activists cannot rest until Amazon lets public libraries purchase and own the digital books they publish—performing their historic role not only of providing open access to knowledge and information to everyone, but also archiving and preserving the important stories that are being shared outside of mainstream publishing. Right now, even with this new licensing deal, Amazon can, and actually has in the past,⁵ just erase a book from existence at their leisure.

We don’t think corporations should control what books are allowed to exist. If you agree, support our work so we can keep pushing Amazon to let libraries buy ALL of their books!

Or, at the very least, buy your own next book from your local independent bookstore. 😉

For open access to knowledge,

Lia & the team at ❤️Fight

Footnotes:

1. Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/03/10/amazon-library-ebook-monopoly/

2. The Hill: https://thehill.com/policy/technology/556381-amazon-takes-big-step-in-e-book-deal-with-libraries-but-activists-seek-more

3. Fight for the Future: https://www.fightforthefuture.org/news/2021-03-16-amazon-prioritizes-free-books-by-white-people/

4. The Hill: https://thehill.com/policy/technology/534364-amazon-hit-with-class-action-lawsuit-alleging-e-book-price-fixing?rl=1

5. Gizmodo: https://gizmodo.com/amazon-secretly-removes-1984-from-the-kindle-5317703

Fight for the Future works to protect your rights in the digital age.