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IP: EBAY'S EFFORTS TO BLOCK 'BOTS' DRAW SCRUTINY Edupage, 4 February 2000
From: Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>
Date: Mon, 07 Feb 2000 18:14:27 -0500
EBAY'S EFFORTS TO BLOCK 'BOTS' DRAW SCRUTINY The Justice Department's antitrust division is investigating eBay's attempts to stop other auction sites from using shopping bots to search its site. Investigators have met with auction sites AuctionWatch.com and Bidder's Edge, both of which use bots to compile lists of offerings from auction sites, including eBay, to allow users to search multiple sites for the lowest price. EBay has prevented the bots from searching its site, and the Justice Department will determine whether the move is anticompetitive. EBay's Jay Monahan says the issue centers on "eBay's right to prevent unauthorized intrusions." In December eBay brought charges against Bidder's Edge, accusing the smaller site of trespassing on eBay systems, unfair business practices, computer fraud, and misappropriation. Although eBay permits other online aggregators access to its site, the company is able to limit the access as part of the agreements. "What's at stake here is the architecture of commerce on the Internet, whether you can freely search others' sites or whether you have to have their permission," Bidder's Edge CEO James Carney says. (Wall Street Journal, 4 Feb 2000)
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- IP: EBAY'S EFFORTS TO BLOCK 'BOTS' DRAW SCRUTINY Edupage, 4 February 2000 Dave Farber (Feb 07)