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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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Senate Takes Aim at 'Bots' that Snap Up Concert Tickets
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Any woman is a volume if one knows how to read her.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Hyperturtle on Sunday December 04 2016, @01:25AM
Great, this means they are going to go after Wall Street's stock market behaviors and punish the high speed traders that use software to snap up and dump shares faster than people that do regular jobs and are stuck at work saving for retirement can realize that they need to reorganize the 401k plan to defend against their actions when they manipulate prices like that, they're going to punish them for causing the 2008 crash and all of the sub-prime mortgage share trading and stuff right?
Right?
Oh. I guess this is just that circus part of keeping the plebs from rioting. The Romans were pretty right about that.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 04 2016, @01:58AM
This is different from high-frequency trading. These aren't stocks being traded, they're tickets.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Hyperturtle on Tuesday December 06 2016, @12:29PM
Yes, that is why I drew an inference to high speed trading, to point out what I believed to be more important for our elected representatives to address, considering the same reasons listed by the FTC for the ticket sales abuses would be applicable reasons to the high speed trading abuses.
As to the comment of Flash Crash trader -- I won't beg and choose for such results, but I get the feeling he just didn't get a good lawyer. Making an example of one person and then doing nothing to address the problems is more akin to arresting someone peeing on the sidewalk and doing nothing about making public bathrooms available at the bar everyone is drinking at... than properly enforcing laws to stablize our financial system and prevent abuses in trading by already deeply pocketed businesses that can afford to keep investing.
Me? I am lucky I don't pee on myself in that analogy. I can't keep up because my job isn't watching the market all day. And if it was--I am sure I'd be tempted to use what legal methods are available and seek to make sure my cash cow is protected when it comes time to make campaign donations. What's a small slice of the profit to ensure future profits?
As a result, I do not expect many people on wallstreet to have a higher sense of morality than myself. I expect regulations (in this example) to enforce what the invisible hand is not.
That person getting prosecuted sends a message to people, but corporations are not people and cannot be held individually responsible for their misdeeds. Look at Wells Fargo; none of the people fired for following the requirements laid out by management are going to get their job back, and the CEO didn't take responsibility either. He left with a generous reward. He received an outcome far better than jail time, and the people fired for carrying out the business expectations were probably hoping for some other outcome.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 04 2016, @02:03AM
The flash crash trader [wallstreetonparade.com] has been caught and punished.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 04 2016, @07:39AM
Serves him right. Damn upstart thinking he can trade like he's in the old boys club.