Amazon.com target of boycott by Dublin man and the father of murdered girl
Jonathon Athens, Dublin News, November 6, 2002

The father of 12-year-old murder victim Polly Klaas has joined a Dublin man in a boycott against Amazon.com, charging the Internet catalog company is making money off his daughter's death and giving a platform for her killer to become a celebrity.

Three months ago, Dublin resident Bret Vinocur created a website to help find missing and exploited children, www.findmissingkids.com.

In the course of establishing his site, Vinocur came across a website linking the nation's largest Internet bookseller with a German anti-death penalty group that solicits for pen pals for convicted murders on death row, including Klaas's murderer, Richard Allen Davis.

Davis, 42, was convicted on June 18, 1996 of killing Polly Klaas after kidnapping her from a slumber party in her California home on October 1, 1993.

Her disappearance triggered a nationwide search that ended after Davis led police to the body weeks later and confessed to the crime. Davis was sentenced to death and is currently in San Quentin prison.

"I can't figure how Amazon figured they'd benefit by linking up with these people," Marc Klaas said in a long distance telephone interview last week.

"I would never do business with Amazon. I would never do business with any group that would promote killer-celebities," he said.

Despite repeated attempts, the Seattle-based company would not comment or return phone calls.

Founded in 1995, Amazon.com employs 7,800 people and has affiliates in the United Kingdom, Canada, Japan, France and Germany.

The company reported a net worth of $567 million in 2001 and $35.1 million income in September 2002, according to Hoover's, a business reference guide.

"We want the violent criminals get punished. We don't want them to get executed, because the death penalty is inhuman and violates the human rights. Because of this we demand the abolition of the death penalty worldwide," according to the website of the German group ALIVE-Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty.

Aside of opposing the death penalty, the organization stated on its website:

“The support of convicts is one of the main targets that we are aiming for. Identifying pen pals for death candidates, establishing minor homepages for selected convicted offenders in order to focus public's attention on their fate are parts of our work, as well as campaigns in very extreme cases."

"Convicted offenders have the opportunity to consult us directly with the result that we will try to support them, as long as our personal as well as financial resources allow us to do so," the website stated.

"Why the hell would you give Richard Allen Davis a voice?" Vinocur asked.

Although he disagrees with those who oppose the death penalty, Vinocur said he does not object to Amazon.com partnering with an anti-death penalty group.

He vehemently objects to giving Davis a platform to speak and to Amazon.com contributing proceeds to ALIVE.

"My goal is to have all the money made off that link given to the Polly Klaas Foundation," Vinocur said.

On its website, Amazon.com stated sites that promote sexually explicit material, violence, discrimination, illegal activities and violate intellectual property rights would be disqualified from linking to them.

Websites that do qualify can earn up to 15-percent referral fees on merchandise sold by Amazon through their link, the company stated.

"It incenses me," said Klaas.

"It's terrible. It disgraces my child,”, he said.

It demeans her value to think that her killer could use this to benefit himself.”

“By extension, Amazon is going to make money off my daughter's murder."