I have heard of ‘co-operating with the police’ before but never with quite this degree of enthusiasm:
Speaking at a conference this winter on Internet crime, eBay.com’s director of law enforcement and compliance, Joseph Sullivan…
They actually have one of those?
Brags Sullivan, “If you are a law-enforcement officer, all you have to do is send us a fax with a request for information, and ask about the person behind the seller’s identity number, and we will provide you with his name, address, sales history and other details–all without having to produce a court order.”
And Mr.Sullivan went further:
“Why if you’re a law enforcement officer we will also do your laundry, collect your shopping, pick up your kids from school, tidy up your house, make your bed, weed your garden, fix your dinner, fetch your slippers, repair your leaky guttering, pay all your household bills, walk your dog and even clear the snow from your front path. You don’t even have to ask.”
But if all that is not enough to leave a queasy feeling in your innards, try this:
eBay itself goes further than this, employing six investigators who are charged with tracking down “suspicious people” and “suspicious behavior.”
Perhaps they’re expecting to find something like this:
For sale: Nuclear centrifuge. One exceedingly careful owner. Contact s.hussein@ba’athist.com
Or perhaps they are just keeping a beady eye open for those suspicious antique Staffordshire teapots.
[My thanks to Dr.Chris Tame of the Libertarian Alliance for the link.]
Note that AOL has for years been even more cooperative, giving the FBI free reign on it’s chat systems, and log access on demand, etc.
Another reason I try not to buy AOL-TimeWarner products, and why I refuse to have an AIM ID, regardless of how many acquaintances agitate for me to get one: I tell them which other, freer networks I’m on.
“Whoa!”, thought I. “Deja vu?”
The Matrix moment over, a quick web-search reveals this is an old report – I remember thinking “What a dork” about Sullivan several months ago.
Given eBay’s dismal lack of response in going after perps who are openly selling counterfeit merchandise – video CDs of TV shows, cable descramblers – not to mention numerous reports of heavy-handed freezing of people’s PayPal accounts when they are the victims of fraudulent deals, I can only think that eBay and the Feds deserve each other.
I used to have an eBay account. Now, I’m voting with my wallet and going elsewhere; just wish more people would do likewise.
Paranoia, paranoia!
We MUST co-operate with our government. How else will we fight the war on terrorists! Only by giving our absolute support to the commander in chief of the free world (and his appointed leutenants) can we be sure of final victory.
How is it possible that an administration that liberated the poor of Arabia and threw aside tyranny could possibly be anything other than totally good for our current well being and future prosperity.
Join me in a return to traditional mental attitudes. Let us throw aside our personal needs for the greater glory of the administration. Maybe if we get really drunk we can even sing “My way”…
…oh well it was worth a try. It is an unfortunate truth that the “land of the free” remains “free” by watching everyone, everywhere, most of the time. The internet is just one example of this surveilance. The credit card companies have been providing similar information for years. Now vehicle number plate scanners track your journeys and mobile phone records confirm who your friends are. Orwellian indeed…but don’t protest, citizens, it is unpatriotic.
Unless of course you are an agent of the forces of evil. In which case, we already know where you live.
I should think that eBay’s motivation for being so miserably compliant is good old fashioned terror.
I’ve been wondering how long it would be before some greedy and power-crazed politician eyed it with the words ‘regulation’, ‘taxation’ and ‘control’ forming in his brain.
eBay is so hugely successful that it has spawned many thousands of people who now rely on it, if not entirely for their livelihoods, then at least partially.
To the statist mindset, this degree of individual autonomy free from regulation, qualifications, licensing, statutory working hours and conditions, insurance and all the rest of the government nightmare is anathema.
eBay has been an enormous force for good in the economy, teaching thousands of people the nuts and bolts of trade and making them ask that most subversive question: ‘how do I earn my living today?’ when they get up in the morning.
As every person who asks that question is a natural enemy of big government, it makes eBay (whether it likes it or not) a subversive influence in the eyes of those who truly believe that we are not safe left in charge of our own destinies.
Land of the slightly less free I think
Fairly soon now those in the land of the “free” will no longer be able to use their credit cards to gamble online. This is because the US govt wants to cut down on the amount of offshore companies making a fortune from this industry.
One of the reasons that this tactic will be successful (in the short term) is that PayPal accreditation was removed from all online gambling sites when it it was purchased by (Surprise Surprise).
EBAY
Eamon
Ebay is the second largest retailer in the US, just behind Walmart. It’s huge. It is, in effect, an entire shadow economy.
You can buy anything from serial killer autographs to antique gynecological instruments to level 100+ Anarchy Online gaming characters. Whatever “suspicious behavior” they’re trying to root out, it seems to leave a lot of wiggle room.
They’ve had an amount of fraud proportional to their size (a hell of a lot, in other words), including users who advertise goods they haven’t got and bugger off with the cash. And it’s a safe bet that many sellers disdain the tax man.
There’s tons and tons of money whipping back and forth and government ain’t getting its cut. It’s only a matter of time before fraud and tax evasion is used as an excuse for government to sink its fangs into such a juicy prize. Whatever legitimate complaints there might be about eBay management, I don’t blame them a bit for trying to forestall the inevitable as long as possible by cooperating with and pre-empting government investigators.
Ebay is one of the weirdest and most subversive ideas I’ve seen in a long, long time. It’s weird-ass, wild-west unsupervised capitalism. Me, I’m pleased to dabble around the edges of it from time to time.