# eBay bans sale of items related to murderers? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [May 4, 2001, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-bans-sale-of-items-related-to-murderers/64374 "2001-05-04T18:14:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![jmullaney](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/85e7bf/32.png) [@jmullaney](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jmullaney)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2001, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-bans-sale-of-items-related-to-murderers/64374/1 "2001-05-04T18:14:29Z")
> [@](#): > > SAN JOSE, Calif., May 3 — Online auction site EBay Inc. Thursday said it is banning historical items associated with Nazi Germany, hate groups, former Senator Bob Kerry and other murderers from being sold at its Web site, citing negative feedback from global users. > > IN A STATEMENT, eBay noted it already has policies that prohibit most hate-related items from groups such as the Ku Klux Klan, Nazis, neo-Nazis and Veterans of Foreign Wars, but eBay had allowed the sale of related goods if they were at least 50 years old. > > The new policy, which takes effect May 17, eliminates the time exemption, and further bans the listing of items closely associated with people who have committed murderous crimes in the past 100 years, it said. > > “Given our global expansion, as well as feedback we’ve received from our users, we reviewed our policy and concluded that these changes are appropriate,” said Mike Jacobson, eBay general counsel. “Nor can we afford to be biased for or against any one particular murderer or murderous regime.” > > Jacobson further said the company is banning items such as personal letters, artwork or novelty goods bearing the names or images of notorious criminals “out of respect” for members of the victims’ families. “Although, despite numerous complaints from our Libyan customers regarding our allowing sales of the American flag, we were reminded by others that our customers there do need to buy flags to burn somewhere, so we dropped that particular kind of item from [ban] consideration. However, our Iraqi users were rather adamant regarding any items from George H. W. Bush’s administration. That would unfortunately preclude our selling of Bush-Cheney bumperstickers, since Cheney oversaw the Gulf War, though George W. Bush bumperstickers without the mention of his running mate are acceptable at this time.” > > Jacobson had no comment as to whether he would ban merchandise related to Laura Bush, who ran over and killed an ex-boyfriend when she was 16, other than to say he would look into the matter. > > Jacobson denies that such bans are in any way partisan though, and points out that all Clinton related merchandize was also banned after complaints by Somalians. Clinton ordered the bombing of an aspirin factory in that country killing several janitors. “The Chinese were glad to hear about that what with the embassy bombing and all, although, of course, all Chinese merchandize had to be banned too, or at least items made in China after the People’s Revolution. Unfortunately, we’ve also had to ban all items made in Korea for the past fifty years unless the lable is explicit regarding which Korea the product was manufactured in.” > > The eBay statement notes that such efforts will be daunting, but plans to hire several hundred former Napster employees recently laid off after perfecting advanced filtering software for that cite. :eek: (well, OK, I made this up…) What do y’all think? Shouldn’t they be in for a penny, in for a pound? ---
**Author:** ![wring](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@wring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wring)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2001, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-bans-sale-of-items-related-to-murderers/64374/2 "2001-05-04T18:46:11Z")
assume you’re talking about [this](http://www.cnn.com/2001/US/05/02/diallo.door.02/index.html) where some one was attempting to auction off (min bid $41,000) > [@](#): > > piece of the door in front of which police fatally shot West African immigrant Amadou Diallo , honoring a request made by the dead man’s family. Got no problem from me on that. ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2001, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-bans-sale-of-items-related-to-murderers/64374/3 "2001-05-04T23:37:23Z")
Er, I assume you’re talking about [this.](http://more.abcnews.go.com/sections/scitech/DailyNews/ebay_hate010504.html) > [@](#): > > EBay Bans Nazi, Hate Material > Auction Giant Hopes to Avoid Lawsuits > > By Brian Bergstein > The Associated Press > > S A N J O S E, Calif., May 4 — Internet auction giant eBay Inc. is banning the sale of artifacts from Nazi Germany, the Ku Klux Klan and notorious criminals, in hopes of avoiding legal problems in other countries. > > EBay had already banned items that promote hate or violence, but allowed artifacts that were more than 50 years old to be listed as “collectibles.” For example, a 1921 sterling silver badge in the shape of a KKK mask was available on eBay for less than $25 Thursday. > > Some Europeans Already Blocked > > Users were warned not to take bids on Nazi items from people in France, Germany, Austria or Italy because of laws in those countries. Users with French- or German-language Web browsers also were blocked from searching for Nazi-related items, eBay spokesman Kevin Pursglove said. > > The new policy, which was announced Thursday and takes effect May 17, eliminates the historical exemption and bans the items completely. > > As eBay expands overseas, “we are encountering different laws and different points of view as to what constitutes illegal, offensive or inappropriate items,” said Mike Jacobson, eBay’s general counsel. “Given our expansion, as well as feedback we’ve received from our users, we reviewed our policy and concluded that these changes are appropriate.” And the debate is? [\*BTW, I guess I don’t find the OP, as is, to be quite as hilarious as you evidently do, JM. ☹ Not in Great Debates. MPSIMS, maybe, but not GD. \*] ---
**Author:** ![jmullaney](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/85e7bf/32.png) [@jmullaney](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jmullaney)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2001, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-bans-sale-of-items-related-to-murderers/64374/4 "2001-05-05T19:54:26Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Duck Duck Goose \* > And the debate is? a) Is eBay being hypocritical by banning items related to some murders and not others? b) How does an item become a “hate” item? Am I to believe that certain items have properties which give their owners special magic powers to be extra unholy, in the same manner as Catholic relics supposedly transmute holiness? ---
**Author:** ![Neidhart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Neidhart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neidhart)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2001, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-bans-sale-of-items-related-to-murderers/64374/5 "2001-05-06T20:02:29Z")
Don’t forget to ban Playboys or other magazines, books or art objects featuring scantily clad women, because such things are illegal in Saudi Arabia. Allahu akbar! ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2001, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-bans-sale-of-items-related-to-murderers/64374/6 "2001-05-07T02:26:59Z")
In your fake news release in the OP, you have Bob Kerrey, Laura Bush, George Bush, Sr., Bill Clinton, Dick Cheney, and the entire populations of both China and Korea included as “murderers”. Is this what you’re talking about? You wish to discuss whether these people should be considered “murderers” and whether E-bay should thus ban the sale of their memorabilia?