Time to consider

brad — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 13:30:58 -0700

Not sure what you mean. All that I report above did actually happen. The proposal I make (letting people register with a photo rather than their name) did not happen, nor would it be likely to be created in a short time. It is, however, a proposal for a long term way to do things like will-call and anti-scalping in high volume which should be built, and then could be used for any rush event.

I had previously proposed it for flying (when you buy an airline ticket, they don’t need your name, just a picture of who is flying, to assure you did not sell the ticket.) Of course the security people now incorrectly believe they need your name. But it’s also good for those long will-call lines at events. No handing over ID and checking it, checking for names etc.

It all happened so quickly.

Phillip Helbig — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 05:45:11 -0700

I haven't followed Jackson's death (or his life) in any detail, but I have a general idea what happened. Since it came rather unexpectedly (or did it? I hear the conspiracy theorists whispering), I'm surprised that it was organised as well as it was. I doubt anyone had the time to consider the issues you raise.

Tales of the Michael Jackson lottery, eBay and security

brad — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 13:21:41 -0700

I’ve been fascinated of late with the issue of eBay auctions of hot-hot items, like the playstation 3 and others. The story of the Michael Jackson memorial tickets is an interesting one.

17,000 tickets were given out as 8,500 pairs to winners chosen from 1.6 million online applications. Applicants had to give their name and address, and if they won, they further had to use or create a ticketmaster account to get their voucher. They then had to take the voucher to Dodger stadium in L.A. on Monday. (This was a dealbreaker even for honest winners from too far outside L.A. such as a Montreal flight attendant.) At the stadium, they had to present ID to show they were the winner, whereupon they were given 2 tickets (with random seat assignment) and two standard club security wristbands, one of which was affixed to their arm. They were told if the one on the arm was damaged in any way, they would not get into the memorial. The terms indicated the tickets were non-transferable.

Immediately a lot of people, especially those not from California who won, tried to sell tickets on eBay and Craigslist. In fact, even before the lottery results, people were listing something more speculative, “If I win the lottery, you pay me and you’ll get my tickets.” (One could enter the lottery directly of course, but this would increase your chances as only one entry was allowed, in theory, per person.)

Both eBay and Craigslist had very strong policies against listing these tickets, and apparently had staff and software working regularly to remove listings. Listings on eBay were mostly disappearing quickly, though some persisted for unknown reasons. Craiglist listings also vanished quickly, though some sellers were clever enough to put their phone numbers in their listing titles. On Craigslist a deleted ad still shows up in the search summary for some time after the posting itself is gone.

There was a strong backlash by fans against the sellers. On both sites, ordinary users were regularly hitting the links to report inappropriate postings. In addition, a brand new phenomenon emerged on eBay — some users were deliberately placing 99 million dollar bids on any auction they found for tickets, eliminating any chance of further bidding. (See note) In that past that could earn you negative reputation, but eBay has removed negative reputation for buyers. In addition, it could earn you a mark as a non-paying buyer, but in this case, the seller is unable to file such a complaint because their auction of the non-tranferable ticket itself violates eBay’s terms.

Brad Ideas - Tales of the Michael Jackson lottery, eBay and security - Comments

Time to consider

It all happened so quickly.

Tales of the Michael Jackson lottery, eBay and security