Dianna Dilworth at Galleycat says:

Anne Rice has joined a number of authors who have signed a petition to stop “author harassment” in user reviews on Amazon.

The petition, which is addressed to Jeff Bezos and Jon Fine, calls for more oversight and control on Amazon’s product reviews system. The authors of the petition are trying to put an end to what they have described as bullying and harassment in book reviews.

The obvious answer would be to not read the reviews, but I guess that's too much to ask. I can't imagine that Amazon will work with the signers of this petition. Where do you draw the line? Some authors, I can personally attest, are incredibly sensitive. Authors whose books I've panned have accused me of everything from sadism to hate speech. Amazon doesn't have the time or the resources to police user reviews at the level of granularity that these authors are requesting.