Pirates targeting Amazon.com encounter rough seas

News broke recently about a Firefox extension called "Pirates of the Amazon" that alerts Amazon.com shoppers if an item they're planning to buy is available in cheaper, illegal form elsewhere.

The add-on gained instant popularity, but now it's apparently hit some choppy waters. The "Pirates of the Amazon" site is down this morning, with the message: "The ship was hit. We're offline."

PC World has more on the Firefox add-on and the potential threat it posed to Amazon. It apparently alerted shoppers when an illegal copy of an item they were planning to buy pops up on a torrent site called The Pirate Bay.

The story notes that it's not clear why "Pirates of the Amazon" was shut down this morning, or whether it had anything to do with legal action or an onslaught of web traffic.

The rogues behind the add-on have said they are not affiliated with The Pirate Bay, according to TorrentFreak.

PC World notes that Pirates of the Amazon "effectively turns the online retailer into a shopping mall for pirated content," but adds it's "doubtful that something like this would take a significant chunk of gift giving dollars this month" given that "stolen content is not considered a tactful gift."

About Eric Engleman

ERIC ENGLEMAN is senior technology staff writer for TechFlash and the Puget Sound Business Journal, covering online retail giant Amazon.com. Engleman tracks Amazon's increasingly complex business, spanning ecommerce, Kindle, cloud computing, and more. He's been covering technology and other industries for the Business Journal since 2003.

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