Amazon: Amazon showed its commitment to protecting the privacy and free speech of users in 2010 by
refusing to turn over records detailing over 50 million purchases by North Carolina residents to the state’s Department of Revenue. With help from the ACLU, Amazon
won the case. A federal judge
ruled that the First Amendment protects a buyer from having the expressive content of her purchases disclosed to the government and that individuals are “entitled to receive information and ideas through books, films, and other expressive materials anonymously.”
Amazon: In April 2009, Amazon became the target of outrage when sales rankings and search results for LGBT material
mysteriously disappeared. Amazon’s initial response, describing the delisting as an automatic action to remove “adult” content from its sales ranks and lists, triggered
irate responses and led over 26,000 individuals to join an
online petition protesting the removal. Although Amazon later apologized for the incident, calling it a result of a
“ham-fisted glitch,” the harm to its reputation – both in the LGBT community and among others who trust Amazon as an impartial source of information – had already occurred.
