For further information, contact:
Chris Finan, American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression, chris@abffe.com, (212) 587-4025, ext. 15.

ABFFE Condemns Humane Society Lawsuit Against Amazon.com

NEW YORK, NY, February 8, 2007 -- The American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression (ABFFE), the bookseller’s voice in the fight against censorship, today condemned a lawsuit filed by the Humane Society of the United States that seeks to force Amazon.com to halt the sale of subscriptions to magazines about cockfighting. The suit was filed in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia today after Amazon.com refused the Humane Society’s demand that it discontinue the sale of subscriptions to The Feathered Warrior and The Gamecock. “In its zeal to eradicate conduct that it abhors, the Humane Society is over-reaching by trying to suppress speech that is protected by the First Amendment,” ABFFE President Chris Finan said. “Speech that advocates hateful ideas is entitled to the same degree of First Amendment protection as speech advocating popular views. If the courts accepted the Humane Society’s argument, we can only wonder what other kinds of controversial ideas in book and magazines would come under attack next. This is why the Supreme Court has declared that even the advocacy of illegal conduct is protected by the First Amendment.”

The Humane Society lawsuit claims that the sale of cockfighting magazines violates a federal law, the Animal Welfare Act (AWA), which makes it a crime to use the postal service “for purposes of promoting or in any other manner furthering an animal fighting venture.” The society claims that both the editorial content of the magazines and the advertisements they carry promote cockfighting and are therefore illegal.
However, the AWA does not ban either cockfighting magazines or advertisements, Finan said. The section cited by the Humane Society has been applied only to those who are actually engaged in animal fighting. It has never been used to prosecute advertisers or publishers, much less distributors. (Both magazines appear to be available by subscription only.)

The cockfighting magazines clearly do more than promote animal fights, Finan said. They are also a vehicle for political activity. Animal fighting remains legal in some parts of Louisiana and New Mexico, and the cockfighting magazines include news about efforts to ban it. In a 2005 letter to Amazon.com president Jeff Bezos, Wayne Pacelle, the Humane Society president, acknowledged that the magazines provide “updates on legislation.”

Humane Society Vice President Michael Markarian told the Associated Press yesterday that the society was filing suit because Amazon.com “has not been willing to give up the blood money.” Finan said the statement reflects a misunderstanding about the role that the First Amendment assigns to Amazon.com and other booksellers. “We disseminate books and magazines that express all kinds of ideas, including hateful ones,” he said. “We are not taking ‘blood money’ when we do the job that is assigned to us by the Constitution.”

As part of the lawsuit filed today, the Humane Society is also accusing Amazon.com of selling two videos that allegedly depict dog-fighting in violation of the federal Depiction of Animal Cruelty Act. Amazon.com said that it would remove the videos because they show actual violence. The videos were posted on Amazon.com by third-party vendors. It has previously removed dog-fighting videos posted by third-party vendors.