Online Reviews

* Re “Online Reviews Raising Questions in Cyberspace,” June 29:

Until recently, I was naive enough to assume the reviews on Amazon.com were authentic. Then I learned from a friend that someone using his “eddress” had posted a viciously negative review of my book, “Keep Watching the Skies,” on Amazon.com. Internal evidence proved it was really posted by a sad case who had been stalking me online for some time, and evidently this fact convinced Amazon.com to remove the bogus review. The same stalker attacked others who had books featured on Amazon in the same manner.

Almost everyone who has been online long enough has horror stories to tell, and most of them stem from easy-to-achieve anonymity. Not only does this immunity benefit mere stalkers, but also the unprincipled, destructive clowns who create viruses, destroy Web pages and in general wreak havoc. Like so many aspects of technology, this anonymity is a major virtue that’s too easy to exploit.

BILL WARREN

Los Angeles