News: Congress bans programs from buying concert tickets

VOSS

Quote:

Using software bots to buy concert tickets will soon be illegal, thanks to a bill passed by Congress yesterday.

The Better Online Ticket Sales (BOTS) Act makes it illegal to bypass any computer security system designed to limit ticket sales to concerts, Broadway musicals, and other public events with a capacity of more than 200 persons. Violations will be treated as "unfair or deceptive acts" and can be prosecuted by the Federal Trade Commission or the states.

Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kansas), who sponsored the bill, told The Associated Press that he intends to "level the playing field" for people buying tickets.

"The need to end this growing practice is reflected in the bill's widespread support," Moran said.

The bill passed the Senate by unanimous consent last week, and the House of Representatives voted yesterday to pass it as well. It now proceeds to President Barack Obama for his signature.

Quote:

The Senate took up the matter a few months ago, holding a September hearing at which Jeffrey Seller, the producer of "Hamilton," testified. Seller told legislators that bots quickly buy up tickets, which are then resold on platforms like StubHub and TicketsNow for big markups.

SOURCE

jpow

if only they did this last year before Adele tickets went on sale

Trent W

Fair enough

Temporal

Thank GOD

Can't_M!ss_This

It's about time. Reselling tickets should be forced to be sold for face value as well. There's no reason Average Joe should make money from somebody else's work just because he got a ticket first.

Haus

Ryuuchan_X

Finally

Mekitor

Yes! Yes! Yes!

heckinglovato

Horrible. I hope Obama vetoes it.

The government needs to stop sticking its nose in the private market at every single chance it gets.

Frankievii

Hunter_13

Finally.

I remeber paying $200 for a floor ticket to the Red tour when Taylor was only asking $77.

Can't_M!ss_This

Quote:

Originally posted by heckinglovato

Horrible. I hope Obama vetoes it.

The government needs to stop sticking its nose in the private market at every single chance it gets.

The government makes laws to protect the people.

The only non-government way for this to not happen would be to revert to in person sales at a local Ticketmaster. Which I don't think is going to happen.

It's also anti-consumerist since few people have access to their own bulk buying software.

Ticketmaster and other sellers could cancel any ticket posted for resale at a price higher than face value. But would that be legal? How would it be enforced?

I think it's a good idea. There needs to be some control in the market.

Buyonce1814

Quote:

Originally posted by Can't_M!ss_This

The government makes laws to protect the people.

The only non-government way for this to not happen would be to revert to in person sales at a local Ticketmaster. Which I don't think is going to happen.

It's also anti-consumerist since few people have access to their own bulk buying software.

Ticketmaster and other sellers could cancel any ticket posted for resale at a price higher than face value. But would that be legal? How would it be enforced?

I think it's a good idea. There needs to be some control in the market.

Harry Potter & The Cursed Child West End show cancels all resold tickets, apparently.