The US government is trying to get three bills through congress to force EBay and Craig’s List to police affiliates suspected of trafficking in stolen goods.
If the bills passed, the retail site would be required to turn over all information they gather to the authorities – which is a given – but the kicker is that they are prohibited from giving the suspect sellers any clue that they are being investigated.
Now, if the sellers are guilty, that is all good and well for them to get busted, but there are those who fear that such a blanket requirement could be abused. If a site is innocent but suspected, these sellers fear that repercussions could exist as a result of an investigation being undertaken without their knowledge.
Of course, the counter argument is that if you aren’t doing anything wrong, why should you e all worried, but then the rebuttal is what right does big brother have to invade innocent citizen’s privacy, and whatever happened to innocent until proven guilty?
The answer to that one is predictable – claim that there is a threat to national security and bring in the Homeland men in black. Organized retail crime syndicates are behind a large percentage of online fraud and shoplifting crimes on a large scale, so you might want to rethink that Victoria Secret purchase and err on the side of caution when it comes to stolen goods.
In the online world, stolen products that might only bring in 30% in the street jump to a value of 70% of retail. Many shoplifters and outright burglars are now hawking stuff online where the very fact that the items are NOT dirt cheap is working in their advantage. A Playstation selling for $80 won’t raise eyebrows like one sold for $30.
Unfortunately, the concept of abuse is not without some grounds, since there are people in the world who just like to throw sticks in other people’s wagon wheels. Under the proposed legislation, anyone could file a complaint stating they suspect a seller of trafficking stolen goods, whereupon the seller would be investigated without their knowledge and possibly have their site blacklisted or shut down. This seems grossly unfair, and doesn’t really seem to address the alleged problem if organized crime syndicates using the internet to launder stolen video games.
On the one hand, there is an increasing amount of fraud and theft; on the other, an unconstitutional law that is really toothless where it matters. Add to that the possibility of shoplifting finally being considered a disease on a par with gambling and you have the makings of a real SNAFU.
Tags: Craig's List, Ebay, shopliftinig, stolen goods