DOJ sues eBay for selling ‘rolling coal’ devices; fines could hit $2 billion
DOJ sues eBay for selling ‘rolling coal’ devices; fines could hit $2 billion
Rolling coal is the practice of tampering with a vehicle's emissions control system, causing it to spew black clouds of sooty exhaust.
Rolling coal is the practice of tampering with a vehicle's emissions control system, causing it to spew black clouds of sooty exhaust.
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Not sure it's specifically eBay that should get the fine here, it should be the sellers ON eBay.
Agreed. Nobody wants the eBay police, but sellers and buyers should be the ones held accountable.
Yes exactly. No online platform can catch 100% of prohibited activity. They are punishing the wrong people. What they should do is get a list of all the ones eBay missed, file charges against the seller and start knocking on buyer's doors. Or maybe send some agents in an undercover Prius to pull them over and issue a fine when they get coal rolled. That would send a pretty clear message that eBay is not a safe place to purchase these items.
so, you are right and wrong, due to the structure of the American legal system those DIRECT at fault are fines/sued first, then they are supposed to turn around and file a suit for damages against the next party down the line, so eBay should sue the seller.
same thing in motor vehicle incidents, if a car A and B are waiting in traffic and car C rearends car B to the point it hits car A, the man in car A is supposed to sue the guy in car B who then sues the guy in car C for damages
So ebay, who profited from the sale of these devices, shouldn't be held accountable?
Did ebay stop any listings for these devices? It seems like if they were trying to stop this market, they would have stopped some number above zero, right?
Try selling a human limb on ebay and see how quickly your listing is removed, not that I'm bitter or anything.
edit: it kinda seems like they were trying to be compliant.
You're responsible for what people on your platform do.
Here I thought the modern internet is able to exist because platforms specifically are not responsible for what its users do.
It's illegal for imgur to host illegal images I can see why eBay would be responsible for people selling illegal items.
Imgur hosts the images vs eBay only hosts the information, the sellers ship the product to the buyer
Hosting is hosting and images are information.
big thing about Ebay is they often also process the transactions
Very good point.
Imgur has to take down the illegal image when requested to do so. Imgur isn't charged for having a user upload an illegal image.
This is the part that bothers me too. Assuming they haven't been asked to remove them already that is.
Sort of. They essentially have to be given the opportunity to take corrective action but if they don't then they get fine. Or indeed other things depending on the severity of what's happening.
See Reddit and all the subs they were eventually forced to shut down.
To a point, I suspect that applies to speech things, not necessarily physical items.
But that's a good question, I don't know where the line lies.
the line lies where you start harming other people (and their habitat), that's literally the definition.
your freedom ends where my freedom begins
Yeah but what if I'm an idiot redneck then other people aren't allowed freedoms. Only me.
Hmm. While I agree generally, your response seems a little vague. Definition of...? Freedom?
I'm saying I wonder where, formally, a company goes from being an information platform, to something else. That's the very point at which ebay started becoming liable for what people did on their systems.
They're not just hosting pictures, they're selling real-world items to circumvent laws in a visibly annoying way. People in CA get away with uncovered high intensity off-road aux lights because nobody's really abused them.
Coal-rollers like being obvious, stinky dickheads, hence the crackdown on both sales and installations.
If someone sells cocaine on eBay does ebay get fined? How about illegal porn?