Pirates hijack Amazon.com

A new Firefox extension named ‘Pirates of the Amazon’ has surfaced on the internet. The extension functions as a ‘skin’ over the Amazon page. Users who have installed the skin and shop for movies, books and music on Amazon will be presented with a ‘download for free’ button. Users who click the button will be redirected to the illegal offering on the Piratebay. While the site which hosted ‘Pirates of the Amazon’ has been taken offline, the extension has reappeared on numerous sites.

The makers of the extension want to ‘stimulate new distribution methods’ and ‘redistribute wealth’.  In general, pirates rejoice, but some are more critical. A filesharer on Torrentfreak comments:

“fuckin stupid especially with the amazing price cuts amazon gives its customers, don’t get me wrong i’m a huge bittorrent fan not to mention i pirate just about everything i possibly can, but stupid shit like this is what causes amazon to jack the prices right back up to retail… this is the one time i can honestly say, fuck you”

The commentator touches upon an important point: one thing this extension makes clear is that piracy can threaten legitimate businessmodels.