[CQ-Contest] Why should we care?

[WA7VNI]

It seems to me that "self regulation" is an integral part of
both the letter and dare I say the "spirit" of our service.
If the sale of illegal  equipment directly affects and/or
threatens our portion of the spectrum and our service then I
think we are obligated by letter and spirit to take action
when it seems feasible. There are enough threats that we
have little influence on it would be a shame to ignore one
that we might actually affect. 

Commercial enterprises like eBay will, as previously noted,
tend to ever so carefully stay in the gray areas that their
legal counsels advise them are safe. We need to help them
make the right decision. I think it was Garrison Keillor who
once defined conscience as "...the knowledge that someone is
watching". OK, now they (eBay and the sellers) know that
someone IS watching and we shouldn't let them forget it

73 
Patrick 
WA7VNI 

-----Original Message-----
From: cq-contest-bounces at contesting.com
[mailto:cq-contest-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of Mike
Gilmer
Sent: Friday, February 06, 2004 9:43 AM
To: cq-contest at contesting.com
Subject: Re: [CQ-Contest] Why should we care?

It would be wrong to think that eBay has no interest in this
issue.  Their published policy (which is likely nothing more
than a "Cover Your Ass") addresses

the issue of CB amplifiers fairly well.  They wouldn't

publish that if they weren't aware of the issue.  So at some
level, they DO care.

However, their sellers are smart enough to know how to

break down eBay's resolve (not that they probably had much).
Sellers place amplifiers in the HamRadio category, say
things like "not for CB", etc.

If eBay starts squashing ads based on keywords (like Palomar
or Galaxy) the sellers would do like the spammers and use
spaces and asterisks to spoof the filters.  So without a
human staff of CB-amplifier- sniffers, they aren't going to
stop this.  Experienced

website guys realize that this cat-and-mouse game can take
lots of time so my guess is that this (a published policy)
about all we are ever going to see from eBay without our
involvement.

But we can use their own policy "against" them. By being
that "human staff", and sending eBay a list of violations
and letting them know the FCC will be informed (and actually
doing so) perhaps we will see some results.

To be sure, nothing will happen without hams taking some
action.  Although some might find it distasteful to "play
cop", we have little choice.  There's no way to know if we
can make a difference without trying.

Mike N2MG


__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Finance: Get your refund fast by filing online.
http://taxes.yahoo.com/filing.html
------------------------------------------------------------
---
    The world's top contesters battle it out in Finland!
THE OFFICIAL FILM of WRTC 2002 now on professional DVD and
VHS!
       http://home1.pacific.net.sg/~jamesb/
------------------------------------------------------------
---

_______________________________________________
CQ-Contest mailing list
CQ-Contest at contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/cq-contest