Archives for February 2008

February 27, 2008

yet another e-meter, this time for real

The two e-meters in the previous post were indeed sold on eBay. However, the sale of the first e-meter ended after one day--five days early. The sale of the second e-meter is curious too, as no picture was included in the listing. This may have had the effect of robbing Scientology of its only thin basis for removal, that being that the listed e-meter was a counterfeit, and the listing thus a trademark infringement. Without the picture, it is impossible to ascertain the authenticity and thus impossible to claim trademark infringement. It may also be noteworthy that the second e-meter was listed by a British user.

Onto new e-meters! Well, one new e-meter. eBay listing here, and screenshot here, in case it disappears. The listing is due to expire in 4 days and can be "bought now" for $1400. The seller is from the US, and the e-meter is relatively new (a Mark Super VII Quantum).

posted by scott pilutik at February 27, 2008 08:20 PM

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February 21, 2008

New E-Meters For Sale on eBay

And with a very low $50 starting bid! It's an older model, a Mark VI, and from the looks of it as well as the description, used. Here's the link to the e-meter. Here's a screenshot of the listing, in case it suffers the same fate as countless e-meters before it. With so much attention now trained on both eBay and Scientology, it will be interesting to see if this older model squeaks through. Bidding ends on February 28 at 10:12 PST, and the seller is from the United States.

Update/Correction:

There are TWO e-meters for sale on eBay. This other e-meter (a Mark Super VII) doesn't attach a picture, however. Link to sale here. Link to screenshot here. The bidding is up to $260 on this model, and the seller is from London.

posted by scott pilutik at February 21, 2008 03:32 PM

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February 20, 2008

traffic!

I never expected all this hoopla (and you can quote me on that!). The hoopla I'm speaking of is for the 45,000+ 'unique visitors' to this site yesterday, from Slashdot, Digg, Reddit, Guy Fawkes, and Emma, all to read my post on Scientology's abuse of eBay's VeRO system. You all caused me to lose sleep while I tried to reconfigure the bandwidth of the site; the site crashed but was back up within ten minutes. I also received a few emails, some with interesting points I'll try to address later.

One thing I would like address up front, however, is that the title of the Slashdot article linking here is a bit misleading. The VeRO program doesn't quite give Scientology access to eBay's database--it's an administrative tool whereby VeRO members can remove listings. It's not a slight distinction and should at least be pointed out. That said, it is true that the VeRO program allows rightsholders to police infringements themselves without interference from any human at eBay; these dynamics (including the prohibitive cost of responsive litigation by sellers) dictate a scenario where overreaching is inevitable.

Another point a few emailers made is that the DMCA safe harbor rule would come into play here, and if sellers wanted to restore listings that were removed, all they would need to do is counternotify. This is true only in the context of an alleged copyright violation, however. Trademark and patent law are not covered by the DMCA safe harbor provision, and it is trademark and patent which has served so far as the bases for removal when Scientology has complained, based on emails and conversations I've had with affected sellers. So counternotifying is generally not an option for sellers of e-meters on eBay. See the EFF's Safe Harbor FAQ for more on this.

posted by scott pilutik at February 20, 2008 08:02 AM

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February 18, 2008

Scientology abuses eBay's VeRO program to practice religious, price discrimination

By the time Bill (not his real name) left the Church of Scientology a few years ago, he had amassed quite a collection of Scientology material—mostly books, tapes, e-meters. But ex-members of Scientology (especially staff members) find themselves in a difficult spot in this regard when they leave Scientology: their books, tapes, and e-meters are only valued by Scientologists, who, quite inconveniently, are strongly discouraged (read: disallowed) from communicating with ex-members—as any ex-Scientologist will tell you.

Not surprisingly, he turned to eBay, where a Scientologist buyer can remain blissfully unaware that his seller is a declared suppressive person. But every time he attempts to sell his e-meter on eBay, the listing is removed within hours by the Church of Scientology, which claims that the listing violates their intellectual property rights. See screenshots of the auctions while they were up here [update; personal info redacted] and here, and respective "Invalid Item" eBay pages here and here. And it’s not just Bill—I’ve watched numerous e-meter listings from other sellers removed before they even receive a bid.

If you’re uninitiated to eBay, you’d probably think that for each of these removals, the Church of Scientology informs eBay of the violation of its rights, eBay considers the merits of their argument, and then only then does eBay yank the listing. But that’s not what happens at all. Instead, eBay effectively deputizes Scientology, which logs into eBay and removes the listings itself.

The mechanism that permits the Church of Scientology (and others) such broad access and discretion is called the Verified Rights Owner ("VeRO") Program. Membership in VeRO is obtained simply by submitting a form to eBay explaining that you are an Intellectual Property rights holder.

It should come as little surprise that VeRO members routinely overreach, as the cost of challenging a listing removal is almost always prohibitive. (See my paper on this subject here, and see the brave husband and wife exception to this rule here.) The VeRO Program makes a great deal of sense for some types of listings—counterfeit Rolexes and Gucci handbags appear on eBay with such frequent regularity that those companies would be hard pressed to handle these trademark violations any other way.

But Bill's e-meters (and the e-meters other ex-Scientologists have attempted to sell on eBay) are not counterfeits and do not violate the Church of Scientology's trademarks, patents, or copyrights. Some sellers have even included the serial number found at the bottom of each e-meter in their listings in order to authenticate them. There is no source confusion, as every seller whose e-meters have been removed have made it clear that they took the photo of the e-meter, and that they are not affiliated with the Church of Scientology. Patent law doesn't prevent the resale of patented items, and patent law barely covers e-meters anyway, the first having run out years ago and the 2000 patent only covering "improvements" on the "Quantum" e-meter. And copyright law barely applies here—all of the listings I've observed have been originally written, for one thing, and regardless, Scientology (from what I can gather) has only issued VeRO complaints under patent and trademark bases.

In short, the Church of Scientology is at least constructively aware that the e-meters being listed on eBay are authentic, and so have no basis under trademark—or under any other intellectual property basis, for removing these listings. What's actually going on here is that Scientology is abusing eBay's VeRO program, knowingly alleging Intellectual Property violations that clearly don't exist, so that they can limit the secondary market for e-Meters, controlling both the price and who can get them.

It shouldn’t shock anyone that Scientology is trying to limit (if not eliminate) the secondary marketplace for e-meters, since they have a strong motivation to control the price on e-meters from their own production line (they update to a newer more expensive model every few years), and a strong motivation to control to whom they're sold. The economic motivation should be clear enough—Scientology doesn't want what few members it has being exposed to a secondary market because it would undermine their monopoly on a prohibitively expensive and infrequently purchased item.

Scientology's other motivation for wanting to be the only game in town is intrinsically cultish—it has long perpetuated the idea that e-meters should never be used outside of the auspices of the Church. In other words, not only should Scientology be the sole sale source, but it should also be able to dictate every element of the post-sale environment—who can use it, how it can be used, etc. If e-meters are being sold on eBay, it doesn't know the purchaser and can't therefore control how and by whom it's used.

Indeed, the warning label at the bottom of each e-meter demonstrates the kind of control to which I’m referring. The need for a label came about after the FDA took offense at Scientology’s claim that the e-meter retained medical benefits; the court eventually agreed with the FDA and mandated a disclaimer, which has morphed from the original into the following:

By itself, this meter does nothing. It is solely for the guide of Ministers of the Church in Confessionals and pastoral counseling. The Electrometer is not medically or scientifically capable of improving the health or bodily function of anyone and is for religious use by students and Ministers of the Church of Scientology only. (emphasis added)

posted by scott pilutik at February 18, 2008 01:48 AM

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