Well, Mike Littwin the Denver Post columnist thinks they are. See http://www.denverpost.com/littwin/ci_14644174?source=rsshomecol, and maybe they are.
At the very least, I think they showed poor business judgment in "firing" Amazon affiliates in Colorado because the State passed a law requiring (according to Littwin), "companies like Amazon to send to its Colorado customers a list of what they've spent during a year and a reminder that the customer owes a use tax. It also sends a dollar figure to the state. Amazon would not be a tax collector. It would be a tax nudger.
"The idea was to persuade Amazon it would be easier just to collect the tax than to keep all those records. But Amazon had a different idea: Call the lawyers and then go all medieval on the affiliates, who would pressure the legislators.
"The stakes are large. And the reaction was not unexpected. Amazon had fired its affiliates in Rhode Island and North Carolina. It threatened to do the same in Colorado, which is why the legislators passed a law that wasn't based on affiliates".
Mike also said that "it turns out that Amazon is evil. And now that Amazon has fired all its Colorado affiliates — mostly mom-and-pop outfits, and who can resist an outfit with a mom or a pop? — I find I have no choice.
"In a sales-tax war between Amazon and the Colorado legislature, Amazon has dropped the big one on the innocent affiliates, who have done absolutely nothing wrong except get caught in the crossfire.
No one seems sure exactly why Amazon fired its Colorado affiliates — people who, after all, send business Amazon's way — unless it was simply to enjoy watching the ensuing chaos. Amazon has done something like this before. That's why, before passing the new law, Colorado legislators specifically exempted affiliates from the battlefield".
Evil, poor business judgment, or dumb? In the end, I guess I vote for dumb. I expected better from Amazon.
Read more: http://www.denverpost.com/littwin/ci_14644174?source=rsshomecol#ixzz0hoQtxqbK