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.