US Representative Brad Ellsworth of Indiana introduced legislation on Tuesday that would make organized retail crime a federal offense and would make marketplaces like eBay more accountable for stolen goods listed on their sites. The National Retail Federation (NRF) issued a press release applauding legislation and said this week's ruling in the Tiffany-eBay counterfeiting case, which eBay won, demonstrated that current laws are not adequate to police online marketplaces.

NRF Vice President for Loss Prevention Joseph LaRocca said, "A significant portion of this bill deals with on-line fencing of stolen goods. On-line auctions and other markets on the Internet provide a Wild West environment where thieves can re-sell stolen property to customers on a national or even international level with virtually no questions asked."

House Resolution 6491, the Organized Retail Crime Act of 2008, was introduced on Tuesday and was referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary. The text of the bill is not yet available online. According to the NRF:
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Ridiculous!!! If they are having trouble just keeping known knock-offs from being sold on ecommerce sites, how will they keep unknown stolen mdse off? Is everything sold now subjected to Gov't Policing? Is it stolen until proven purchased? The questions and ramifications are endless!!!

Looks like ebay has a target on their back....everyone is jumping on the bandwagon.

It's not just authenticity problems, Fleecebay also has an underbelly of criminal activities ongoing that have needed to be investigated for some time. It's finally coming to a full head and someone will probably lose theirs!

I can envision a program like VERO with people reporting competitors for selling "stolen" goods and eBay removing listings indiscriminately.

I hope this idiot from Indiana also has a sure fire, cant miss, get it right 100% of the time plan tio enforce this to go along with his legislation.

Is it no wonder why the economy is in shambles and gas is 4 bucks a gallon. Legislators like this who are in the pocket of the "National Retail" spend their time chasing the impossible dreams of special interests instead of working on the real problems.

It's all about attacking online sellers and nothing more.

Anyone have an email address for Representative Ellsworth? 10-12 thousand emails asking him to focus on the real problems we have might change his mind. Especially if a bunch of those emails are from his district.

I agree this is a problem, but I would think that the onus should be on law enforcement...not the online venue. And that the legislation should be more about making sure online venues work willingly with law enforcement.

Not sure what an auction site could do to fix such a problem since they are not trained in tracking criminals.

Like Patch said...just opens the door for crazy stuff to happen. Witch hunts, etc.

A friend had her car broke into last week and electronics stolen. I told her to keep an eye out on ebay. Unfortunately...that is what is thought. This time it was teens, though, and they have been arrested and the items recovered.

CabinFever is right.

Helping law enforcement to catch the fences by recording who is the seller is and sharing it can be done. That would require a more detailed application to be a seller.

So be it.

Can I just say say that somewhere it's written, in something quite trivial to many, he Constitution, that we are innocent until proven guilty.

CS

dlrane wrote (View Post): › Ridiculous!!! If they are having trouble just keeping known knock-offs from being sold on ecommerce sites, how will they keep unknown stolen mdse off? Is everything sold now subjected to Gov't Policing? Is it stolen until proven purchased? The questions and ramifications are endless!!!

I agree! Instead of blaming e-commerce, there should be more emphasis on catching the criminals, of which the article suggests, 50% are retail store employees! What nonsense!

copperpenny22

"Can I just say say that somewhere it's written, in something quite trivial to many, he Constitution, that we are innocent until proven guilty."

Unfortunately, this is becoming an almost quaint concept in our society. The modern assumption is that everyone is guilty of something, it's just a matter of time until they're caught.