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eBay pays $3M fine in blogger harassment case

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Re: eBay pays $3M fine in blogger harassment case

#41

Post by throwup238 »

low_tech_love wrote: post #34

The filings said the couple had been left "emotionally, psychologically, and physically" terrorised. I always find it interesting that, when people sue other people/companies for some kind of harassment, they have to claim something like this. Shouldn’t it be obvious? Like, they got weird stuff by mail and got stalked. That should be enough? What if they didn’t actually got scared, what if they laughed at it? They we…

(IANAL) The amount you win in a lawsuit has to be based on actual damages so if you want to sue for emotional distress it has to fit the legal definition which depends on the jurisdiction. Since emotional distress isn't bound to any hospital bills or other quantifiable harm, it generally pays quite a bit more.

Re: eBay pays $3M fine in blogger harassment case

#43

Post by AlbertCory »

> Baugh's lawyers said he faced pressure from former eBay CEO Devin Wenig to reign in the Steiners over their coverage of the company. Mr Wenig, who stepped down in 2019, has not been charged in the case and denies knowledge of the harassment campaign.

I'm no D.A. but isn't this the spot where the prosecutor offers Baugh a reduced sentence in return for testifying against Wenig?

Re: eBay pays $3M fine in blogger harassment case

#44

Post by alright2565 »

lesuorac wrote: post #30
ksherlock wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My father was a rural letter carrier and I can 100% confirm that live bees and live chicks are sent USPS.

I think you guys are missing the actually comment. The question isn't "can you send live animals" the question is "what happens if I sent a live/dead animal and _don't_ tell USPS". That question is not answered by the section (?) 526 rules [1]. [1]: https://pe.usps.com/text/pub52/pub52c5_008.htm

There's no problem mailing dead animals:

> The following factors are applied to all shipments of mailable live or dead animals:

> … Protection of the mail and the environment against the following: … Obnoxious odors and noise.

> ...protection of animal specimens against spoilage

https://pe.usps.com/text/pub52/pub52c5_003.htm

There's some other restrictions on mailing dead wild animals, but mailing livestock carcasses is not restricted from what I can see outside of those broad guidelines.

Re: eBay pays $3M fine in blogger harassment case

#45

Post by DistractionRect »

low_tech_love wrote: post #34

The filings said the couple had been left "emotionally, psychologically, and physically" terrorised. I always find it interesting that, when people sue other people/companies for some kind of harassment, they have to claim something like this. Shouldn’t it be obvious? Like, they got weird stuff by mail and got stalked. That should be enough? What if they didn’t actually got scared, what if they laughed at it? They we…

I imagine it's a necessary component to assessing damages. Aside from the criminal component, the claim of inflicted pain/suffering is necessary if they want to seek damages.

IANAL, but I suspect that claims along the lines that it didn't bother them, they found it amusing, etc would result in a much lower, if any, assessment of damages.

Re: eBay pays $3M fine in blogger harassment case

#46

Post by joecool1029 »

dylan604 wrote: post #11
thebruce87m wrote: post #5

> The acts of intimidation included sending live insects, a foetal pig and a funeral wreath to the Steiners' home in Natick, Massachusetts. If someone I knew claimed that eBay execs were sending them things like this I wouldn’t believe them. It’s like something from a TV show.

I wonder what the rules on sending live specimens through the post are. Knowingly not using the right markings on the package can cause issues. When they ask you if you have any of "these" things in the package and you then say no would be a federal crime. Messing with the postal inspectors tends to be wildly underappreciated at the repercussions they can inflict.

> I wonder what the rules on sending live specimens through the post are.

Wonder no more: https://pe.usps.com/text/pub52/pub52c5_008.htm

(I've mailed bee nucs to my local post office, it's usually uneventful, once a newer employee was a little nervous having it around)

Re: eBay pays $3M fine in blogger harassment case

#47

Post by jongjong »

thebruce87m wrote: post #5

> The acts of intimidation included sending live insects, a foetal pig and a funeral wreath to the Steiners' home in Natick, Massachusetts. If someone I knew claimed that eBay execs were sending them things like this I wouldn’t believe them. It’s like something from a TV show.

I think this trivializes the experience. They wouldn't have known who was behind it initially and must have thought they were targeted by the government.

Anyone who has had weird stuff happening to them like finding a GPS tracker on their car among other weird stuff would end up going down a conspiracy theory rabbit hole about 'targeted individuals' or similar. It is extremely distressing.

Re: eBay pays $3M fine in blogger harassment case

#48

Post by mometsi »

low_tech_love wrote: post #34

The filings said the couple had been left "emotionally, psychologically, and physically" terrorised. I always find it interesting that, when people sue other people/companies for some kind of harassment, they have to claim something like this. Shouldn’t it be obvious? Like, they got weird stuff by mail and got stalked. That should be enough? What if they didn’t actually got scared, what if they laughed at it? They we…

Forensic psychology is a weird discipline that evolved more from legal precedents than social science research. There are standards for what counts as victimization, and incentives to categorize negative emotional responses as e.g. recurring episodes rather than chronic or permanent problems. Those legally-defined turns of phrase are like pinball bumpers that they have to hit to activate different levels of compensation.

Re: eBay pays $3M fine in blogger harassment case

#49

Post by nsajko »

Context:

> The eBay stalking scandal was a campaign conducted in 2019 by eBay and contractors. The scandal involved the aggressive stalking and harassment of two e-commerce bloggers, Ina and David Steiner, who wrote frequent commentary about eBay on their website EcommerceBytes. Seven eBay employees pleaded guilty to charges involving criminal conspiracies. The seven employees included two senior members of eBay’s corporate security team.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EBay_stalking_scandal

Re: eBay pays $3M fine in blogger harassment case

#50

Post by emilfihlman »

throwup238 wrote: post #41
low_tech_love wrote: post #34

The filings said the couple had been left "emotionally, psychologically, and physically" terrorised. I always find it interesting that, when people sue other people/companies for some kind of harassment, they have to claim something like this. Shouldn’t it be obvious? Like, they got weird stuff by mail and got stalked. That should be enough? What if they didn’t actually got scared, what if they laughed at it? They we…

(IANAL) The amount you win in a lawsuit has to be based on actual damages so if you want to sue for emotional distress it has to fit the legal definition which depends on the jurisdiction. Since emotional distress isn't bound to any hospital bills or other quantifiable harm, it generally pays quite a bit more.

Damages shouldn't be subjective but based on the acts committed.
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