[Mixtape]

Slightly off-topic, but I've recently heard from some corners of the collecting world that this is a major issue for video game resellers on Amazon (and other platforms) as well. People regularly receive flash carts with stuck-on labels (i.e. stolen trademarks) on them and a pirated ROM running on counterfeited hardware. Unfortunately, it's nearly impossible in some cases to identify a well-crafted fake from a genuine copy before purchase, and the burden is thus placed on Amazon to take action against sellers of the products. Given that the loss of one consumer in a relatively niche yet very competitive market will not deal significant damage to Amazon's overall profits, (and that Amazon can feasibly shift blame towards the seller,) the issue persists.

All of this is to say that the idea of pirated books proliferating on Amazon is entirely feasible if electronic devices can be so successfully faked. However, what's not lost on me is the irony of Amazon, a marketplace whose initial success was anchored by trust in its ability to deliver books, falling victim to such schemes in this specific market space.