EBay is in a difficult position. EBay can't just go by someone saying, "Hey, these auction pics were lifted from this other web site." That doesn't establish a timeline for which set of pics preceded the other. If they have a specific auction number, they may be able to verify that the pictures came from an earlier auction and act accordingly -- which I know for a fact they do, albeit slowly, if they have sufficient information. Of course it's not practical for them to archive every auction forever. So their ability to compare earlier pics with current ones is limited. Caveat emptor is indeed the best advice.
One thing I think eBay could do to improve security is to make it easier for sellers to watermark their images. I'm talking about weaving a text message into the background of the image to act as a disincentive for thieves to reuse the image. It's the kind of thing you can do in applications like Photoshop. But it would be nice if eBay could either automate (or at least simplify) this process as sellers upload their images to eBay's servers.
Kevin Moran Bloomington, Indiana USA
P.S. For those who may not be aware, there is a 'Report this item' link at the bottom of each eBay listing that people can use that to report items they suspect of being fraudulent. This is an alternative to using the Live Help link on eBay's main page.
Jerome & Elizabeth Moos <jerrymoos(AT)sbcglobal.net> wrote:
When someone hijacked photos of my bike from the CR Website, eBay refused to even cancel the auction. Evidently they only consider the images stolen if they are stolen from another specific eBay auction. But I guess we all know by now that eBay is only interested in collecting their fees. Their weak efforts at fighting fraud and abuse are only to try to avoid government regulation. The best advice is the same as it was in ancient Rome: Caveat Emptor!
Regards,
Jerry Moos Big Spring, Republic of Texas
__________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com