Regarding the Canadian and the "Anti-Bush" deck of cards...

[BuelahWitch]

I talked to a friend of mine who works for eBay's Community Watch department (I also worked there for two years). Gave her the info on the article and she looked the guy up. His auction was not ended because of pressure from right wing eBayers, nor was he suspended from the site. It was a request from Condileeza Rice's office to have the auction removed through eBay's Verified Rights Owner program (VERO). In this case, she didn't want the guy selling her "image" on a card on eBay. This kind of thing usually only happens with celebrities complaining about fan photos.

Now, before you start bashing me as being pro-big business, eBay is in the business of making money. They don't care if someone sells things making fun of public officials, as long as they get their fees, it's cool. If a right winger wrote in to complain about the cards, they would be given a very polite but firm letter stating the item does not violate eBay's policies.

So it appears the guy told a whopper and got some good publicity at the expense of eBay. He's probably selling the cards for much more than he could get on the auction anyway.

[Loonman]

1. Ohhh....interesting!

Don't worry, I'm a diehard eBay buyer and collector.

[BuelahWitch]

3. Yeah, I hate to see people wasting energy on boycotting due to a lie

They can be very anal about some things, but they mostly stay out of the political fracases, at least on the site.

[pw]

4. Does Rice qualify as a right-winger?

Does this mean nothing with a picture of any member of the administration can be sold without their express consent?

[BuelahWitch]

5. No

What it means is that if someone puts a photo on eBay of a member of BushCo, that member of BushCo can write to eBay's VERO (Verified Rights Owner) group and have the photo removed from auction. Same thing if you take a picture with a pop star and try to sell it. The pop star's people can write and ask that it be removed.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

7. never mind that we're paying Rice's salary

They want all the benefits of public office whilst implementing PNAC but can't take the negatives that go with being in the service of gov't.
These fundie asshole right wingers can dish it out but they sure can't take it.

[BuelahWitch]

6. Oops Yes, Rice is RWer, no to the consent question

eom

[qb]

2. I thought a politician's image was considered "public domain"

Anyway, the article says he drew the pictures. I think Condi's case is weak, but eBay got scared.