I guess that would explain it.

But why claim responsibility? You're just asking for problems at that point.

Some people really, truly need more useful hobbies. Maybe he could take up cooking?

1) DO NOT FEED THE TROLLS. Whether this is true or not, posting his face on your frontpage, along with links, gives him exactly what he wants. Epic fucking fail, Consumerist. You lose. The only way to fight idiots like this is to ignore them.

2) It's probably not true. Weev is just like every petty terrorist warlord who comes out and claims responsibility for any normal plane crash or railway accident.

3) If this started in February as is being reported, and Amazon was aware of what was happening then, the facts do not support the hacker story.

This is shoddy reporting of the worst kind. At least find a better source than the community of hackers who are themselves claiming credit. On something this big, you should at least double source your story for God's sake.

@JulesNoctambule: But then he'd just end up doing the same thing to yelp.

As much as I've read on his antics, with full knowledge that I am not an internet elite, I can completely understand why he wants to take away the internet from everybody who thinks Twitter is a soapbox for their idiocy or has to call tech support to find the power switch on the computer.

A Fascinating look at Weev and other famous trolls: [www.nytimes.com]

@nerdtalker: If what he did was just exploit a system, then he really didn't break any rules. The most he could get nailed with is a civil claim by the authors that what he did affected their sales.

If this guy represents the next generation, we are so fucked. First came Gen X, then Gen Y , now here's Gen MOAR EPIC FAIL...

@FuryOfFirestorm: One random idiot is hardly a representative sample.

@WhiteGuyOnWebCam_GitEmSteveDave: I'm sure setting up fake accounts and whatnot violate Amazon's TOS.

Does anyone believe he's telling the truth? Because I don't.

Ha, I really hope he did it. That'd be a nice slap in the face to all the posters here with their pitchforks held high against amazon.

@WhiteGuyOnWebCam_GitEmSteveDave: He could easily be on the wrong in of a civil claim by Amazon claiming damaged reputation. Confessing, if he actually did it, is massively stupid.

I thought the blogger who found this got a reply from amazon admitting to doing it. So confused...

@Rectilinear Propagation: I'm certainly skeptical. Gawker is considering the absence of the "flag item as inappropriate" capacity to be a confirmation of his story, but I'm wondering if that capability was ever there in the first place.

Gays are apparently easy to troll. If this guy was responsible, it's pretty impressive how much shrieking, hair-pulling outrage he kicked up with a minimal amount of effort. Then again, these people are among the perpetually agrieved. If it wasn't this, they would have found something else to whine about.

He could be telling the truth, or he's seeking some free fanfare but either way, he does bring to the forefront a common issue with Trust-based reporting models sites like Amazon, Craigslist, and eBay use. These companies setup a system of trust with their users for flagging inappropriate material, this system is easily exploited when those users haven't earn said trust.

I know I'm not the only person that has posted a completely legitimate post on Craigslist only to have it taken down due to people flagging it. Also, eBay has taken down legitimate auctions while spammy ones thrive. Using these trust-based system that's open to anyone causes the trustworthy to be squished out by the nefarious. Just like this amazon thing. This exploit also holds well with this guys theory of testing it out in February, as people have said they've seen.

These flag/trust-based systems always need a human filter, which costs money, which is why these systems were put into place in the first place.

At any rate, I truly believe this was a glitch/"hack" as Amazon wouldn't be so stupid to intentionally do this.

First thing first - Riiiight.
Second - I sort-of wish he had bright yellow fluffy hair in this picture.

@VittoriaCorvinus: I'd be fine if Ben tweaked this article so that the person wasn't named and if a different picture (kittehs?!!!) was used. I think it'd be ethical and follow the news-worthiness of the story. The provided links would be available for those curious people, while keeping Consumerist's hands clean of muck.

Funny thing is, if the loser posted a lying press release that had no basis in reality, he STILL gets his toadlike mug blasted across the interwebs, which is his purpose.

I think that is the more likely reality. Amazon's initial statement telling an affected author makes me think this one's all Amazon.

Considering Amazon's initial response to a gay author was that Amazon was "cleaning up" its rating system, I think it's far more likely that Toad-face is simply making crap up in a press release to get in on this much-hyped story.

@Rectilinear Propagation: Why don't you believe him?

@henwy: Any group that is persecuted in society (or merely just FEELS persecuted) are incredibly easy to troll.

I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO BELIEVE ANYMORE

I find it difficult to believe anyone who would include the following in his "confession":

"This started a while back on Craigslist, when I was trying to score chicks to do heroin with."

i'm not buying it... there are other authors stating that this problem has gone on for longer, on a smaller scale. while that might look like a hacker testing the waters, apparently the issue was reported to amazon by authors in august 2008 and february of this year.
if it was a hacker testing the system in those cases, i'd expect amazon to have looked into it, seen the breach and corrected the flaw.

if this is the case and amazon ignored the fact that someone was manipulating their system in a way detrimental to their sales and sellers... i'm still not going to be confident in them after that.

whether it was intentional, glitch or hack - i'm waiting for the public apology to everyone whose work was affected.

@Applekid: Trolling in a thread about trolls - awesome!

@Maurs: Amazon's TOS is not the law, and I doubt they could pursue any claim against you for something like this. Unless the authors were able to prove they lost sales as a result of his actions, which is highly doubtful and basically impossible...

so not buying it.

Ironically the guy looks gay himself. Maybe he's covering up for something deeper....?

If true, what a d-bag.

Also if true, he should be sued for loss of income by the authors of titles affected by the action. I'm sure there is some formula relating search results with sales that could be applied.

It would certainly make a dent in his hot pockets and bawls allowance he gets from his mom.

Whether he did it, or not, the damage is done. There are perpetual victims out there that will always believe the worst about corporate America regardless of any evidence to the contrary.

@nerdtalker: from a legal, financial standpoint, he's in trouble. From a street cred stand point, he has a little more than he did before.

@nerdtalker: This is what the trolling "community" is all about: doing repugnant things to get attention. It would be much more surprising if someone did this and didn't take credit.

@Trai_Dep: This isn't CNN, it's a blog.

I wish to God there was a way to break people's fingers through the Internet.

@henwy: Agreed! How dare you express an opinion different than mine!

Not to be judgmental...but by looking at the picture, this doesn't come as a huge surprise. I'd explain further by I'd like to retain my commenting rights!

@HiPwr: Huh? Taking this too seriously, me thinks.

@Trai_Dep: Yeah, that key bit of info really shouldn't be overlooked.

@WhiteGuyOnWebCam_GitEmSteveDave:

Really? If I forget to lock my apartment door and someone walks in uninvited at 2 AM they aren't doing anything illegal?

If they decide to climb through a window are they just exploiting a system?

@Trai_Dep: 'Toad-face' -- You know, I was trying to think of what that picture brought to mind and I think you've hit the nail on the head.

@nerdtalker: It's Weevlos. I'm not surprised by him anymore.

He may be good with hacking into major corporations, but can he make my slow computer run faster?

@Rectilinear Propagation: I have some familiarity with the things he has done, and he has pulled off much, much bigger things before. I don't doubt it.

it's ok weev, you can come out of the closet.

@Trai_Dep:

Yep I agree with you, and what's worse is, even if it turns out to be not true on the part of Amazon - they'll still be tainted to me and I will not shop there.

@Harley Balabanian:
They are using the same pic as consumerist, except its a bit larger. Look behind him, he has an anonymous mask on his dresser. /b/ tard strikes again?

@FuryOfFirestorm: 'moar epic fail' ? i can't tell if you're serious or being an irony troll

@NotChoinski:

Neither of those examples are valid to what he did.

He didn't break into the system.
He didn't change any code.

He used existing code to do something the way Amazon designed it, with results that Amazon wasn't expecting.

They might try to claim that because he 'automated' the flagging that it consitutes a "denial of service" attack, but that would really be stretching that definition.

I think even the authors would have a hard time proving damage, unless the sales data showed a marked difference from one day to the next. Which I would doubt since most people wouldn't buy a book based on the sales rank.

Ultimately I think Amazon will have to rethink some of it's systems.

And that is all presuming what this guy says is true.