David Friedman is the son of economist Milton Friedman. While he isn’t as famous as his father was, he’s respected in libertarian circles. On November 8, he reported on his blog that Amazon has terminated his KDP account, taken his books offline, and denied him the right to collect outstanding royalties.

Update: Friedman reports Amazon has reinstated his account.

Apparently KDP, Amazon’s self-publishing arm, terminated my account in September, sending me a message I missed. They claim I had multiple accounts, why I have no idea, and also that “this account is related to an account that was terminated due to violations of our Content Guidelines.”

In a November 10 post, he says he can’t view Amazon’s terms and conditions without logging in, and of course he can’t log in. I’m able to view them, so I don’t know what the issue is. Regardless, he got a copy from someone else, so that’s just an oddity, though he calls it a “Catch-22.”

What’s more important is that Amazon hasn’t substantiated or explained its claim that he has multiple accounts. There are lots of David Friedmans in the world, but I’m sure Amazon knows how to deal with people who have the same name. Maybe someone is impersonating him? Maybe he accidentally created two accounts while registering? Did a bot decide that two unrelated accounts were both his? Who knows?

Still more important, it appears that Amazon has declared it won’t pay him any royalties he has accrued. Terminating an account is one thing; failing to pay money owed is far more serious. Friedman has told Amazon that “if you are withholding royalty payments from copies of my books that you sold you are in violation of your contractual obligations.”

This is a concern for everyone with a KDP account, including me. Amazon seems to claim the right to withhold royalties based just on its say-so. It will be interesting to see how this works out.