“Is the Internet everywhere or is it nowhere? This question will strike many readers as a navel-gazing exercise in post-modern existential inquiry, prompting reflections on the 21st-century meaning of location and space. But thanks to Amazon.com, it’s become a question about more concrete and imminent issues like budget deficits and tax fairness. Following a 70 percent earnings increase last quarter, the company this week terminated its business relationships with its Colorado affiliates. The move was a response to new Colorado legislation compelling online retailers to either collect the sales taxes that every other business collects, or at least disclose that customers must pay the levy to the state themselves. … The company, you see, fears that most capitalist of principles: fair competition. It instead relies on a rigged market.” (03/12/10)