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Senate Takes Aim at 'Bots' that Snap Up Concert Tickets

posted by martyb on Saturday December 03 2016, @11:07PM   
from the Karn-Evil-9 dept.

Phoenix666 writes:

The Senate is cracking down on computer software used by ticket brokers to snap up tickets to concerts and shows.

Senators passed legislation by voice vote Wednesday that would make using the software an "unfair and deceptive practice" under the Federal Trade Commission Act and allow the FTC to pursue those cases. The House passed similar legislation in September, but the bills are not identical so the Senate legislation now moves to the House.

The so-called "bots" rapidly purchase as many tickets as possible for resale at significant markups. They are one of the reasons why tickets to a Bruce Springsteen concert or "Hamilton" performance can sell out in just a few minutes.

Kansas Sen. Jerry Moran sponsored the bill. He says it takes aim at artificially inflated prices.

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Original Submission

• America the Great! America the Great! (Score: 3, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 03 2016, @11:13PM

  by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 03 2016, @11:13PM (#436685)

  It's reassuring to know that the most powerful nation on the planet feels that protecting Justin Bieber fans is more important than trivia like appointing Supreme Court judges, fighting global warming, or ensuring their own citizens have health care.

  Starting Score:	0		points
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• Re:America the Great! (Score: 2, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 03 2016, @11:19PM

  by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 03 2016, @11:19PM (#436689)

  ^^ ticket bot operator

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• Re:America the Great! (Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 03 2016, @11:43PM

  by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 03 2016, @11:43PM (#436698)

  At least they didn't bring out the mace:

  WASHINGTON, July 29— It was a far, far cry from the controlled mayhem of Robert's Rules of Order. The fracas started when passions were stirred in the House Banking Committee's Whitewater hearings.

  Representative Maxine Waters, Democrat of California, stood on the floor of the House of Representatives this morning, raising her voice to denounce Representative Peter King, a Long Island Republican with whom she had tangled the night before over whether he had been rude in questioning a female White House aide.

  Mr. King revived the issue today. Then Ms. Waters strode to the floor, interrupting the proceedings to declare, "Men and women, the day is over when men can badger and intimidate women!"

  Representative Carrie Meek, the Florida Democrat who was presiding at the time, raised her voice, slamming her gavel and trying to make Ms. Waters stop.

  Amid the rapping and the shouting, several representatives called for the sergeant-at-arms to remove Ms. Waters from the floor. But as the decibel level mounted and the gavel banged and banged, Ms. Waters marched sturdily on.

  "We are now in this House," she said angrily. "We are members of this House. We will not allow men to intimidate us and to keep us from participating."

  Ms. Meek, rapping her gavel as she spoke, tried for order: "You must suspend! You must suspend, gentlewoman!"

  Finally, someone called for the mace, but there was some confusion as members tried to determine just what the mace was.

  Webster says the "heavy, medieval war club, often with a spiked metal head," can also be "staff used as a symbol of authority by certain officials."

  "Right," said an aide. "The second one." Then the aide found a description of it in her files: a ceremonial wand that consists of 13 rods of ebony bound together and topped with a silver globe and American eagle, a sign of authority so powerful that the House rules say it should be applied to "unruly and turbulent members" who need are quieted down.

  The outburst had its roots in events the night before, when Mr. King was questioning Hillary Rodham Clinton's chief of staff, Margaret Williams, during the Banking Committee's hearing on the Whitewater affair. He indicated that he thought the witness was lying, and the chairman of the committee accused him of "badgering" her. The exchanges grew heated and when Ms. Waters jumped in, Mr. King said: "You had your chance. Why don't you just sit there."

  Ms. Waters: "You are out of order."

  Mr. King: "You are always out of order."

  Ms. Waters: "You are out of order. Shut up."

  The British love this sort of thing. One of Margaret Thatcher's prime political weapons was that she could shout "OOOR-der!" like a two syllable war whoop and drown out her screaming adversaries. But this morning's outbreak in Congress was an aberration for that usually semi-sedate body and it ended only when Ms. Waters thanked Ms. Meek and left the floor.

  That left the esteemed body in a quandary. While two Republicans, Representatives F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. of Wisconsin and Gerald B. H. Solomon of New York, called for disciplinary action, Ms. Meek watched as the House turned into a tumble of disorder. Finally, the Ms. Meet announced a verdict, sort of.

  "The gentlewoman was out of order. The chair was about to direct the segeant-at-arms to remove -- to present the mace."

  After more conversation, Speaker Thomas Foley arrived and said the matter would be resolved by keeping Ms. Waters off the floor for the remainder of the day.

  But then Representative Patricia Schroeder rose to speak, objecting to Mr. Foley's view that while Ms. Waters's comments were reasonable, her "demeanor" was not. "I'm a little puzzled by the word 'demeanor,' " Ms. Schroeder said. "How can you challenge demeanor."

  Recalling Anita Hill

  The dispute was a flare-up of one of the sorest nerves in the House of Representatives. With women still outnumbered, outvoted and in large measure outsiders in a body still overwhelmingly dominated by men, the question of the treatment of a female witness conjured images of Anita Hill, another black woman who sat before a mostly white male panel.

  To Ms. Waters, "It was another one of those things of, 'Well, we boys are together." This afternoon she complained that questioning of the males on the White House staff had been respectful and within the bounds of reason while the questions put to Ms. Williams were not. "This woman was the one they could vent on," she said.

  Mr. King, of course, saw the issue quite differently. "Last night the Democratic majority on the Banking Committee demonstrated conclusively to the American people how desperate they are to keep the American people from hearing the truth about Whitewater," he said on the House floor this morning. He said that the committee chairman, Representative Henry B. Gonzales, Democrat of Texas, "attempted to gag me, and Maxine Waters, the Congresswoman from California, interrupted me and told me to shut up," adding that "this, even for the gentlelady from California, went to a new low."

  Meanwhile, the subject of all the debate, Ms. Williams, did not return reporters' calls.

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• Re:America the Great! (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 04 2016, @03:16AM

  by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 04 2016, @03:16AM (#436747)

  "One doesn't know whether to pity America because it puts so much effort into trifles, or envy America because it can." -- Alexis de Tocqueville, 18xx.

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• Re:America the Great! (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 04 2016, @05:27AM

  by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 04 2016, @05:27AM (#436781)

  Yep the congress can only do one thing at a time. That thing is whatever you decide it should be.

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