It's a story that's getting more and more frequent these days as Web sofware companies are increasingly being held responsible for the actions of those who use said software. The latest case is a whopper as a French court ordered eBay to pay $61 million due to fake fashion merchandise being sold on eBay's auction website.
The funny thing here is that eBay actually does try to curb fake merchanise sales, but the sheer amount of auctions and products that go through eBay must make it pretty much impossible impossible to catch everything. And the thing is, why is it even eBay's problem? It's the same argument that RIAA brought up against p2p networks like Napster and Kazaa. These people claim that it's the responsibility of the software company or service provider to regulate criminal activities. This is an absurd notion that could potentially cripple future technological advancements.
Anybody remember the old debate as to whether or not VCRs should be legal. Back in the day, some people actually believed VCRs should be banned because they allowed people to illegally record movies and other programs. Luckily courts ruled that the hardware allowed for completely legal benefits and that the technology shouldn't be stiffled due to a few bad eggs misusing it. This argument protected some of the p2p networks for awhile, but apparently some courts have forgotten who is really the one breaking the law here - not eBay but rather the people using eBay illegally. Were the courts wrong decades ago? Perhaps VCRs should have been ruled illegal. VCRs, DVD players, CD players... they should all be banned! And since computers can basically copy anything, we better make using those illegal as well!
Okay, while I'm obviously against blaming eBay and other service providers for the criminal activities of others, I can definitely see the other side of the coin on this one and do understand why some people have a problem with eBay in this case. The truth is the Web just makes breaking the law so damn easy. However, just because it's much easier to break the law on eBay than it is at your local swap meet, doesn't mean you should be able to sue eBay and not the people who put on the swap meet when somebody is selling a cheap knockoff of your product at both.
If we keep heading down the path that France apparently wants us to head down, sites like eBay and Craigslist will soon be shut down. Heck, any website that allows any sort of visitor contributions could then technically be sued for anything a visitor does on that website - which would mean social networks, forums, blogs, and any number of other websites would be quickly targetted. My guess is that it will never get this bad because you can't stop the Web's progress, no matter how hard you try (though you can definitely slow it down).