Michael Eisen contributed an article, "When Algorithms Collide," to the Authors Guild Bulletin for Spring, 2011 (pp. 15, 50), describing two automatic book-pricing bots that seem to have gotten locked in an "upward pricing spiral". An ordinary 1992 book, selling for \$35 used, was briefly pushed up to many millions of dollars new.
A version of the article (with illustrations, not in the Bulletin) is also to be found on Eisen's blog, under the title "Amazon’s \$23,698,655.93 book about flies".
The Authors Guild has an ongoing interest in the pricing of electronic text and the rights of authors in the face of electronic pirating.
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