4 ms·

Bizarre harassment of couple by eBay was ‘clearly criminal,’ company admitted

49 points by apress 5y ago

illys 5y ago
I cannot reach the article (paywall) but I found another source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EBay_stalking_scandal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EBay_stalking_scandal It seems only the small fishes are caught, the big ones that give directions are not aware of what happens under their direction...
- kadoban 5y ago
  > the big ones that give directions are not aware of what happens under their direction That's a generous way to put it. I would say that at _best_ they are intentionally unaware, but more likely they know exactly.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
lelandfe 5y ago
https://archive.ph/qXLwY https://archive.ph/qXLwY
oonerspism 5y ago
It's not right that ebay can have their smooth executive fixers organise special meetings to lobby government prosecutors. Then come away having successfully shifted all corporate blame to individual employees "working on their own". It's pretty rotten.
hyperman1 5y ago
I wonder what these people were thinking. This is the kind of stuff an 8 year old would do. If a group of adults, powerful adults even, had these ideas and actually decided to act on them, they must live in some hellish kind of organization.
- kadoban 5y ago
  Well, it worked. These people's lives were successfully made miserable. It might not have been a bad strategy in some cases either. If you send someone a box of spiders, the cops aren't going to care but it'll have some effect on the target anyway.
fractalfinity 5y ago
Professional targeting is more subtle, deniable, and thus better suited for gaslighting a target. It's well-known that wealthy individuals and large corporations employ what amount to private intelligence agencies. The most professional ones work in the shadows. Cowboys make their presence known to targets for intimidation or ego. There is a difference between this egregious case, and, for instance, Omidyar employing ex-spooks to work landscaping jobs at Punahou..

49 points by apress 5y ago

I cannot reach the article (paywall) but I found another source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EBay_stalking_scandal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EBay_stalking_scandal It seems only the small fishes are caught, the big ones that give directions are not aware of what happens under their direction...

kadoban 5y ago
> the big ones that give directions are not aware of what happens under their direction That's a generous way to put it. I would say that at _best_ they are intentionally unaware, but more likely they know exactly.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

lelandfe 5y ago

https://archive.ph/qXLwY https://archive.ph/qXLwY

oonerspism 5y ago

It's not right that ebay can have their smooth executive fixers organise special meetings to lobby government prosecutors. Then come away having successfully shifted all corporate blame to individual employees "working on their own". It's pretty rotten.

hyperman1 5y ago

I wonder what these people were thinking. This is the kind of stuff an 8 year old would do. If a group of adults, powerful adults even, had these ideas and actually decided to act on them, they must live in some hellish kind of organization.

kadoban 5y ago
Well, it worked. These people's lives were successfully made miserable. It might not have been a bad strategy in some cases either. If you send someone a box of spiders, the cops aren't going to care but it'll have some effect on the target anyway.

fractalfinity 5y ago

Professional targeting is more subtle, deniable, and thus better suited for gaslighting a target. It's well-known that wealthy individuals and large corporations employ what amount to private intelligence agencies. The most professional ones work in the shadows. Cowboys make their presence known to targets for intimidation or ego. There is a difference between this egregious case, and, for instance, Omidyar employing ex-spooks to work landscaping jobs at Punahou..