TechRadar - The US government is trying to save Christmas from PS5 and RTX 3080 scalpers
 
“A group of Democratic lawmakers introduced the Stopping Grinch Bots Act on Monday November 29 to try and prevent bots from buying up scarce, in-demand products like PlayStation 5 consoles and the latest generation of Nvidia GeForce RTX graphics cards, and reselling them for an eye-watering markup.
 
The bill, which aims to prevent the use of bot software that bypasses the security measures of websites, making it illegal under the Federal Trade Commission Act for automated programs to impersonate humans in order to clear a website of stock. Should scalpers and bot creators choose to ignore it, they can be sued by the FTC.
 
Representative Paul Tonko said alongside the bill announcement that ‘Allowing grinch bots to rig prices and squeeze consumers during the holiday season hurts American families, small business owners, product makers, and entrepreneurs. We will not allow this market manipulation to go unchecked.’
 
‘Our Grinch Bots Act works to level the playing field and prevent scalpers from sucking hard-working parents dry this holiday season. I urge my colleagues to join me in passing this legislation immediately to stop these Grinch bots from stealing the holiday.’
 
This is great, but if we're being honest it's waaaay too late in the year to be implementing this in order to save the holiday season. The market over the last 12 months has been turbulent, so the issues of getting coveted tech and toys into the hands of everyday consumers have been a huge issue consistently through that period. Realistically, action should have been taken months ago to make a difference.
 
There's also the issue that bots and scalpers are far from the only thing preventing these products from being scarce. The global chip shortage has resulted in manufactures scrambling for what little silicon is available to build their products, and with chips now going into everything from cars to smart fridges, there simply isn't enough production to meet demand. To make matters worse, it's predicted that the shortage could endure into 2023.
 
A few weeks ago the US government rejected Intel's proposal to use a Chinese factory to manufacture silicon wafers - so the ongoing chip shortage is unlikely to end anytime soon. Supply and demand is ‘the most extreme’ it has ever been, according to CEO of semiconductor design firm Arm, Simon Segars, who warned the chip shortage may go on beyond Christmas 2022, with the wait for some silicon sitting at 60 weeks.
 
‘If you haven’t bought all your devices yet, you might be disappointed,’ he said, speaking at Web Summit. ‘It has never been like this before.’ ”
 
My thoughts:  That ship sailed over a year ago, so let’s introduce “feel good” legislation on 29 November that does nothing, is basically meaningless, and toothless.

yeah , maybe this will help by the time the 4000x series cards come out,....
🤦‍♂️

transdogmifier
Not the governments place.
 

It technically falls under trade regulation so, yes, it is.  
Not that it will help.

If you look at FTC lawsuits and settlements, you'll find that it takes anywhere from 3 to 13+ years for settlements.  Now consider how hard it will be to pin down the actual scalpers in order for the FTC to file a lawsuit.
 
This is one of the reasons why I commented that this proposed bill is both meaningless and toothless.
 
The key has always been the consumer.  Since a lot of consumers throughout history seem willing to pay exorbitant prices for things they want vice need, our great grandchildren will be complaining on forums about it.  Nothing will change.

Seems like a good idea to me, but even if bots are defeated it won't stop people just buying and reselling the old fashioned way.

donta1979
As noble as it sounds, the road to hell is paved by good intentions. See this going smashingly... not

This proposed bill has nothing to do the good intentions, only with trying to get attention.  As I previously mentioned, it is basically worthless much like the do not call/spam bill these days.
 
BTW, your car warranty is expiring.
 
 

transdogmifier
Not the governments place.
 

Since we have a pandemic causing a global emergency they could technically move to heavily fine scalpers during this time of crisis. I kind of don't think that they would but if people were still working from home and needed hardware it would be within the right of the government.

Flint 1760

donta1979
As noble as it sounds, the road to hell is paved by good intentions. See this going smashingly... not

This proposed bill has nothing to do the good intentions, only with trying to get attention.  As I previously mentioned, it is basically worthless much like the do not call/spam bill these days.
 
BTW, your car warranty is expiring.
 
 

More government is never the answer. I do not get those emails, calls, or stuff in the mail. ;) 

Let's hope it becomes a bit of a deterant,at least for awhile they'll find away around it.

Flint 1760

donta1979
As noble as it sounds, the road to hell is paved by good intentions. See this going smashingly... not

This proposed bill has nothing to do the good intentions, only with trying to get attention.  As I previously mentioned, it is basically worthless much like the do not call/spam bill these days.
 
BTW, your car warranty is expiring.
 
 

Most likely cause they keep calling.  

Nereus
 
LOL.. so finally this scalper bot bs has impacted one of the elites in power because they can't get a PlayStation for their spoiled brat kid, so *now* they want to do something about it. Typical.
 
That's my take.
 

that's the only explanation i could find for governments "caring" about this matter....

yaymz
 
100% Agreed that the Gov't should be focusing on bigger problems affecting this country. 
 
I really think there needs to be a bigger discussion in what the relationship is between MFG and trusted retail partners is in terms of scalping, and what could be done to improve the situation.   I get that the big retailers are EVGA's customers, so there is a delicate dance to be played, but there should be contracts in place to prevent things like bots buying out entire lots the second a card or ps5 drops.  We have the technology available to prevent this, but the retailers refuse to deploy these options..    IP spam time-outs/bans, captcha, 2 factor authentication, limits on qty sold per address, etc, are just a handful of options. 
 
EVGA (and the others) have leverage that they need to use.   If retailer A refuses to put this in place, well I bet retailer B, C, D and E will gladly put them in place to receive inventory.

Its just another way to deal with parts of the current supply chain issues plaguing the US and the World right now. I agree the bill should have been more laid out with experts on how something effective can be integrated with business owners as these current bill is words and only that but the government has to step in now or we will continue to be plagued by these global supply chain issues.