Amazon.com walked into a Twitstorm today after it emerged that a self-published e-book called The Pedophile's Guide to Love and Pleasure was for sale in the Kindle store. The news spread rapidly on Twitter, with hundreds of people venting their anger at Amazon using the hashtag #amazonfail. (Sample tweets: "Despicable" and "Boycott @amazon until this book is removed.") The book also got deluged with negative reviews on the Amazon site.

Amazon later released a statement defending itself, and gave no indication it plans to remove the title. Via Silicon Alley Insider:

Amazon believes it is censorship not to sell certain books simply because we or others believe their message is objectionable. Amazon does not support or promote hatred or criminal acts, however, we do support the right of every individual to make their own purchasing decisions.

[Update from late Wednesday night: "Amazon removes controversial pedophilia book from online store"]

It's not hard to imagine this kind of situation coming up again in the future. Amazon is on a big push to expand its Kindle content — including self-published material — and some nasty stuff will undoubtedly surface. It will be interesting to see how Amazon manages this issue going forward.

Amazon prohibits pornography and "offensive material" in the content guidelines for its Kindle self-publishing tool, the Digital Text Platform. The company gives itself broad leeway to weed out "offensive material," noting:

What we deem offensive is probably about what you would expect. Amazon Digital Services, Inc. reserves the right to determine the appropriateness of Titles sold on our site.

Amazon did not immediately respond to requests for further comment.

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