US Anti-Scalper Bot Bill may soon come to Canada?

Want you do, to go to a concert, but just after the supposed start time for ticket sales, all the tickets are gone. You, again, have lucked out. Minutes later these tickets are all available on reseller sites for double the price. It really does sound like a scam. While the US just enacted a federal law, here in Ontario we are just starting the investigation phase. I hope that we can adopt something as strong as the US in order to keep an even keel with bot technology and online shopping safe.

Apparently there are bots that buy the tickets. This is really unsurprising, considering the profit margin of 100% or more per ticket. Bot technology is very sophisticated. It really should be illegal, and in the US they are fast closing in to make it law. And a very well named law it is: BOTS 2016 or Better Online Ticket Sales Act of 2016

Public Law No: 114-274 (12/14/2016)

(This measure has not been amended since it was reported to the Senate on September 27, 2016. The summary of that version is repeated here.)

Better Online Ticket Sales Act of 2016 or the BOTS Act of 2016

(Sec. 2) This bill prohibits the circumvention of a security measure, access control system, or other technological measure on an Internet website or online service of a ticket issuer that is used to enforce posted event ticket purchasing limits or to maintain the integrity of posted online ticket purchasing order rules for a public event with an attendance capacity exceeding 200 persons.

The bill also prohibits the sale of or offers to sell an event ticket in interstate commerce obtained through such a circumvention violation if the seller participated in, had the ability to control, or should have known about the violation.

It shall not be unlawful, however, to create or use software or systems to: (1) investigate, or further the enforcement or defense of, alleged violations; or (2) identify and analyze flaws and vulnerabilities of security measures to advance the state of knowledge in the field of computer system security or to assist in the development of computer security products.

Violations shall be treated as unfair or deceptive acts or practices under the Federal Trade Commission Act.

The bill provides authority to the Federal Trade Commission and states to enforce against such violations. source

This should be illegal as it is a deceptive act that not only denies the original ticket agent and therefore the performing group, from profiting, but also overcharges consumers. There are some things that bots should not dominate.

Blame it on the Bots: States Act to Ban Ticket-Buying Software

Unsurprisingly you can buy such a scalper bot here for $350. That is pretty blatant. Is it still legal to sell the software, while illegal to deploy and run it?

Still, I wonder if all the blame on bots is a bit overdone. Behind the bots there is a system. A War on Ticket Bots, With Mixed Results, Obstructed View: What’s Blocking New Yorkers from Getting Tickets

Eric Schneiderman, New York’s attorney general, called ticket reselling a “fixed game,” blaming artists, promoters and venues who hold back 46 percent of tickets for “industry insiders.” “They don’t want the public to know so few tickets are available,” says Gary Adler, the NATB’s executive director. source

There must be something in the ticket selling system that allows this to happen. Concert promoters withhold tickets and don’t tell the public. Maybe some kickback from the scalper sites, I do not know, but the system looks very unfair. When the New York Attorney General says it is unfair, consumers should take note.

Addendum: 2017 Aug 25 Taylor Swift uses a Verified Fan program.

Addendum 2017 Oct 05 Ontario pushes ahead with sweeping changes to ticket-scalping rules, Ontario to tackle scalper bots, real estate rules in broad consumer protection bill

2017 Oct 30 Legislation banning scalper bots will cause more problems than the one it’s trying to solve

2017 Nov 09: Canadian scalper’s multimillion-dollar StubHub scheme exposed in Paradise Papers, StubHub raid in U.K. targets ‘top sellers,’ including Canada’s known superscalper Julien Lavallée

Addendum 2017 Dec 13 Ontario Ticket Sales Act, will be put to a final vote on Wednesday Watered down is the lack of transparency that forces ticket sellers to show percentages of tickets available to the public.

2018 Jul 04 New Ontario government puts brakes on anti-scalping law

“The previous government attempted to institute a cap on ticket resales with no way to enforce that cap, resulting in less consumer protection,” Ford spokesperson Simon Jeffries wrote in an email statement.

“We have paused the implementation of this section until we can review this provision in full to make sure it is in the best interest of Ontarians.”

2018 Sept 21 Ticketmaster secret scalper program targeted by class-action lawyers