State Appeals Court Says Stubhub Isn't Responsible For Actions Of Its Users
from the tickets-he-re...-we've-got-tickets-he-re.. dept
Over the years, we've written about the Section 230 safe harbors -- which protect service providers from being liable for certain actions of their users -- a number of times. This is perfectly common sense legislation: the blame should be placed on the person who actually committed the action, rather than the tools they used. Yet, for some reason, some still have trouble understanding this. A frequent target of those misunderstandings has been online ticket reseller Stubhub. A few years back we wrote about a ruling in a case in Illinois where the court effectively ignored Section 230. Apparently there was a similar move by a state court in North Carolina some time ago, but thankfully, the appeals court has reversed it, and once again made clear that you don't blame Stubhub for illegal actions performed by its users.
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Filed Under: north carolina, secondary liability, section 230, ticket sales
Companies: stubhub
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Mook: "Sir! I just discovered something amazing!"
Boss: "What is it?"
Mook: "People pirating use the road for transport."
Boss: "Burn the roads! All of them!"
Mook2: "But what about all the legitimate uses of a road--"
Boss: "PIRACY!"
Mook2: "B-But--"
Boss: "Piracy! Burn the roads! The roads are killing our economy! Burn the people who made them, too!"
Mook2: "Right away!"
Mook: "Oooh, I also figured something out that's vital to our goals!"
Boss: "Go on."
Mook: "Pirates transport their goods using legs!"
Boss: "BREAK ALL THE LEGS. And SUE GOD FOR GIVING THEM TO US."
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On the other hand, I despise StubHub.
Too often in my life do I miss out on the sale of concert tickets by five minutes, only to find them being immediately scalped on StubHub for at least three times their face value. I know that if it weren't on StubHub, it would be somewhere else, but goddammit, still makes my blood boil.
(I wish more acts would have integrity and go paperless. Then I could watch StubHub burn and have Section 230 remain unperverted.)
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Re: StubHub
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ugh
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Blaming The Shopkeeper
Meanwhile, the real perps are hard to find and, when found, have a nasty tendency to shoot back. Nailing the real perps is difficult and dangerous. It is ten times worse when organised crime is involved. Wise guys are scary. What is a lazy/frightened police person or lawyer to do? Why, blame the shopkeeper!
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Entirely aside from StubHub facilitating "illegal activities" ...
Surely this falls under price fixing, like a manufacturer telling distributors they cannot sell the product for less than the MSRP?
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