National Retail Federation: Auction Sellers' Addiction to Selling Leads to Crime

[mandy]

There are some pointed evaluations being made this afternoon regarding three bills currently being reviewed today by the House Judiciary Committee’s subcommittee on crime, terrorism, and homeland security. First, an interesting blog post by New York Times’ Brad Stone was followed up by an even more alarming post over on the NetChoice blog regarding what this could mean for ecommerce and independent sellers.

Apparently, Joe LaRocca, a mouthpiece for large retailers like Wal-Mart and Target (his official title is Vice President of Loss Prevention for the NRF), claimed that selling on the Internet is so addictive, people are getting hooked and satisfying their addiction by entering a life of organized Internet crime; pretty much equating eBay sellers to drug-addicted criminals.

full article: http://ebayinkblog.com/2008/09/22/online...net-crime/

"The Internet seems to be contributing to the creation of a brand new type of retail thief – people who have never stolen before but are lured in by the convenience and anonymity of the Internet," NRF Vice President for Loss Prevention Joseph LaRocca said. "Thieves often tell the same disturbing story: they begin legitimately selling product on eBay and then become hooked by its addictive qualities, the anonymity it provides and the ease with which they gain exposure to millions of customers. When they run out of legitimate merchandise, they begin to steal intermittently, many times for the first time in their life, so they can continue selling online. The thefts then begin to spiral out of control and before they know it they quit their jobs, are recruiting accomplices and are crossing states lines to steal, all so they can support and perpetuate their online selling habit."

full press release: http://www.nrf.com/modules.php?name=News&op=viewlive&sp_id=572

Does the freedom of selling on the Web lure otherwise law-abiding citizens into an addictive world of organized Internet crime?...

full article: http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/09/22...ashington/

[sneakymagenta]

A case could be made that several of their sweatshop operating, human rights violating, no health insurance offered to employees, chain store members are even bigger criminals.

[mandy]

more:

Online marketplaces are crying foul and claiming big box retailers are attempting to cripple competition from the Internet through legislation aimed at curbing the sale of online fenced goods. Brick-and-mortar retailers counter they routinely find hot goods for sale on sites like eBay and Overstock.com.

Increasingly, big box retailers claim, the goods showing up online are part of efforts by organized retail crime groups to expand their black markets beyond pawnshops, flea markets, garage sales and classified advertising. "Clearly, these [online] products have been either stolen or fraudulently obtained," the Coalition Against Organized Retail Crime told the House Judiciary Committee last year.

To counter the threat of fenced goods, retailers such as Wal-Mart, Target, Safeway, Best Buy and Walgreens are pushing Congress to approve legislation that would effectively allow the retailers to skip the police and simply issue take-down notices to sites such as eBay...

full article: http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Web-Services-We...ketplaces/

[mandy]

TechDirt on the Big Box retailers claims:

Earlier this week, we noted that the National Retail Federation, a lobbying group made up of a bunch of large traditional retailers, had claimed to Congress that eBay drove people to shoplift by being so addictive that people couldn't help themselves. According to the NRF, otherwise innocent people, after running out of legitimate things to sell, turned to a life of crime to support that eBay selling high. The whole thing is so preposterous, that the group NetChoice called for an apology from the NRF. The NRF's response? It stands by its comments:

    "The testimony we submitted reflected the sentiments of many retailers that we work with."

Now there's a neat little rhetorical trick there. When called on the fact that they were lying in claiming a rash of eBay-induced criminals, the response is to claim that the statements "reflected the sentiments" of the retailers. So, even though those sentiments are based on pure lies, it's okay, because the statement reflected those sentiments...

full article and comments: http://techdirt.com/articles/20080925/0241012371.shtml

An earlier article:

Earlier this week, hearings were held on the three bills, and the big retailers made the astounding claim that online auction sites need to be regulated because their "addictive qualities" lure perfectly innocent people into becoming shoplifters to feed their habit of selling online: ...

full article: http://techdirt.com/articles/20080923/0232522340.shtml

NetChoice demands a public apology from the NRF:

This week, in prepared remarks delivered to the U.S. Congress, National Retail Federation executive Joe LaRocca insulted American online sellers of goods by drawing parallels between their activities and those of drug addicts and criminals.  NetChoice, a coalition of companies that is dedicated to removing barriers to eCommerce, calls on Mr. LaRocca and the NRF to publicly apologize to the millions of Americans who have ever sold anything online...

full press release: http://www.netchoice.org/press/netchoice...inals.html