eBay's Gulag: a vast, murky prison system hidden from the outside world

[mandy]

t's a vast, murky prison system of which the outside world knows practically nothing. Inmates can find themselves exiled to its depths without warning or trial, without clear charges or the right to defend themselves, and without knowing if and when they - and perhaps their families and associates as well - will ever be released. Guantanamo? Secret CIA jails? No, we're talking about eBay's account suspension procedures.

A reader who has just encountered it provides a small window into this dark world. "I've been selling things on eBay for a bunch of years," the reader wrote. "One of my accounts was created in 2000. I've helped a bunch of friends, family and neighbors sell and buy on eBay. There's three accounts that we've been using for over five years now, all with 99 percent or better ratings and no negative ratings in more than a year. So I was very surprised to get an e-mail saying all three accounts were suspended last week because of a supposed link to another account (created in 2004) that appears to be someone else's."...

full article: http://weblog.infoworld.com/gripeline/ar...gulag.html

[thentavius]

We've all known about the Gulag for years.