Congress Joins Battle Against Ticket Bots (csoonline.com)

itwbennett writes: A pair of companion bills now pending in the House and Senate would define the use of bots to buy tickets as an 'unfair and deceptive practice' under the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Act. It would also become a federal crime, and create a right of action so that private parties can sue in federal court to recover damages. But if a similar law in Tennessee is any example, making the practice illegal doesn't make it any easier to find the people responsible for the bots. The Tennessean reported a year ago that, 'despite the apparent prevalence of the practice, no one has been prosecuted for this hard-to-prove crime in Davidson County.' This may be just another example of members of Congress not understanding the problem, but some experts say that making the bots illegal is at least a start. 'It helps to shine a light on a problem,' says Rami Essaid, cofounder and CEO of Distil Networks.

Comments

It makes it not quite so impossible to fight back

[Anonymous Coward]

You see, if buying the tickets with bots is illegal, it would now be lawful to do something nasty like turn away bot-purchased tickets at the door. You might not be able to identify them it time to block the transaction but if you can reasonably identify them you can stomp them later. Even if you have a relatively low detection rate the blowback might be nasty against the re-sellers. Of course you'll take your own blowback too.

Legal precedent: possession of stolen property is a crime

Wait a Minute

[freeze128]

It's a short hop from outlawing ticked-buying bots to also outlawing automated stock-trading software. This might be just the thing that the ordinary man needs to take back control of the economy.

Re: It makes it not quite so impossible to fight b

[Bobb Sledd]

That's the dumbest idea I've ever heard, and I get to weigh in because I'm a gigging musician as well.

If a family member can't get all the tickets for their group, then that really sucks ass.

Secondly, if the venue looks empty, then that's because the scalper couldn't sell all the tickets in the first place, which means the venue actually sold more than they would have anyway, so they have little to complain about.

I don't think you SHOULD have any legal say about what I do with my tickets I purchase; they're mine. This sets an AWFUL precedent.