posted on March 9, 2001 01:50:24 PM new
It eliminated the junk
But, it brought in the bootleggers
There are at least 13 separate listings right now for ILLEGAL copies of "The Sopranos" listed on Yahoooo. Yahooooo refuses to deal with this problem. I guess they have to protect the few sellers they still have left.
Shame on you Yahoooo for abetting this criminal activity. I wonder if you'll have enough money left over to pay the fines when the MPAA and HBO pay you a visit ...
posted on March 9, 2001 04:13:37 PM new
RB,
I am sure you are right! It is the only sellers left. I can't believe how empty the catagories look! They sure cleaned house and got rid of the junk ~~~ HA!
posted on March 9, 2001 05:12:25 PM new
They haven't eliminated all the junk, there's still plenty of earn cash schemes and airline ticket scams.
I remember about a year ago I read a news report about a software company suing Yahoo over allowing sales of back-ups. I did a search and there were about 1,000 ads but the next day there were 0. I was shocked Yahoo was actually going to enforce their copyright policy but the overnight deletions were just for show. Within a few weeks there were 500 new ads and growing. The few times I thought of it and looked in the past year there were several hundred. I'm amazed to find 0 right now but I doubt "cust service" is responsible. My guess is the sellers protested the listing fees by moving on or got busted by the copyright owners.
I'm afraid it would take HBO and other copyright holders suing or alerting the media to force Yahoo into action. They won't act otherwise. I hear Neighborhood Watch or writing abuse don't have any effect. I haven't tried either on copyright stuff as I don't shop those sections. But I know for a fact abuse does nothing about the spam complaints I send them.
posted on March 9, 2001 05:32:16 PM new
The internet is a copyright nightmare no matter what the venue.
It would cost a fortune to prosecute all the violators. It costs a lot just to police the auction venues by all parties.
It seems that the media owners are just trying to squash the violations that are or have the potential to take large revenues from them.
If Napster was used by 100,000 people the RIAA may have let it slide. One media mogul has stated that the new P2P file sharing can't be stopped, and only hopes they won't lose more than 20% of revenues.
By the way, the BearShare P2P software I use has episodes of the Sopranos, as well as Seinfeld, and a host of other movies and TV shows available for download.
posted on March 9, 2001 06:40:21 PM new
reamond ... Yes, and that's where the "we're only a venue" nonsense comes from.
Nobody expects them to be able to police their site, but, they ask us for help and when we offer it, they virtually tell us "thanks, but no thanks".
And, what's with the Yahooooo thing where 3 different members have to complain about an auction before anything is done about it? Why not make it 4, or 100? Crap, make it 1000 and enforce mob rule.
Why can't Yahooooo do their OWN investigation when an infraction is reported, especially when the names of people who can give them the straight story (and their contact numbers/addresses) are provided?
The types of auctions that rip my are those ones that are totally and obviously bootlegs. Use "The Sopranos" listings on Yahoooooo as an example. Some of these sellers have sold numerous sets of copies from their "master" tapes so they know just the right words to use in their descriptions. Video laypeople are trying to find out what is for sale through the Q&A process, and they're asking questions like "are the tapes still factory sealed?" All of these questions are being answered with very clever answers. Until I come along and ask point blank "Do you have written authorization to sell these tapes?"
It's funny (!), but my question never gets answered.
It's sad that Yahoooooo's system only lets bidders see the question if it gets answered.
Sorry to take up so much space here folks, but this is a sore point with me, and it is totally avoidable.
[ edited by RB on Mar 9, 2001 06:41 PM ]
posted on March 9, 2001 10:27:26 PM new
I too did a search for the imfamous "section 117" disclaimer which the Sony playstation bootleggers used in their ads and cam up empty. Here is why I think they are gone:
1) they figure Sony and Electronic Arts are actively persuing them for prosecution.
2) It's no longer possible for a seller to sign up with somebody else's credit card. A seller now must pay fees with a Yahoo wallet linked to their own credit card, and that leaves a paper trail right to their doorstep.
In my opinion, the "Neighborhood Watch," is merely a way to eliminate one's competition.
There are many folks with more than one credit card, and ID, and one seller intent on eliminating competition, can easily disguise themselves as 3 and continually turn their competition in for the ambiguous TOS violation!
With the endless, unknown, mystical TOS possible violations, all sellers are sitting ducks, just a matter of time till someone gets upset with you and your auction, and your account is cancelled.
This is the most ridiculous system I have ever heard of. Yahoo set the seller up to be crucified by abusive groups such as the "Posse", and individual sellers intent on eliminating competition.
No thanks - even though eBay has the same system, in all my years on eBay I have seldom seen it enforced, based on some unknown, undisclosed, mysterious TOS violations which Yahoo inflicts.
One can say this "clean up Yahoo," has made a better site, but pre-January 10th, realize, junk, scams and all, everyone was selling well, basically sellers were happy and Yahoo was quickly gaining on eBay. Now, they are cleaned up, and dying.
