Recently, Amazon.com founder and CEO Jeff Bezos posted an apology on Amazon’s front page, expressing his sadness about the way a recent Kindle snafu was handled by the company.

The Kindle is a slim, slick wireless reading device that allows owners to download over 1,500 books, newspapers, and magazines from Amazon’s huge selection of reading material.

Amazon recently came under fire for selling George Orwell’s classic novels, 1984 and Animal Farm, without officially gaining authorization for their use. In a hasty and highly criticized response, Amazon removed Orwell’s books from the Kindle store, thus removing them from buyers’ Kindles, as well. Amazon at least remembered to fully refend the accounts of those who purchased these novels, but they did neglect to extend a prior warning to customers.

Bezos issued a seemingly heartfelt and sincere apology for this error in judgment. He described Amazon’s actions as “stupid, thoughtless, and painfully out of line with our principles.”

Kindle fans can only hope that Amazon refrains from making similar errors in the future.

But…

In the beginning of April, Amazon subjected customers to another self-described “glitch,” when they removed LGBT-themed books, as well as erotica and other types of literature from sales rankings. Childrens’ books, self-help guides, and non-fiction were inexplicably tagged with an “adult content” warning, and works by established authors were suddenly unranked.  Over 57,000 books were affected by this “embarassing and ham-fisted cataloguing error.”

How many “glitches” can Amazon afford before customers start becoming former Amazon customers? And is it any coincidence that Orwell’s novels, highly controversial pieces of literature, and books such as erotica and LGBT works, all suffered from similar errors?