The policy proposal is interesting. However the writing appears suspiciously like AI generated content. Automation and centralization are at the root of many modern problems. More of the same will not solve the growing issues we have with unchecked centralization and unmonitored systems which are beyond the reach of effective human oversight or law enforcement capability.
The problem with these mega corporations is they are magnets for counterfeit products, just the nature of any flea market, be that online or physical brick and mortar location. And let’s face it much of law enforcement has been rather busy shielding corporate and political crime from effective discovery and prosecution rather than pursuing justice for about a generation if not longer at this point.
Here is how this shakes out; Investigator inquires into big corporation. Big corporation calls the politicians and other groups whom they donate to. Additional phone calls are made, and the investigation goes away. There are online groups reporting online fraud every last day of the week and very little is done about this over the long period. Ebay, amazon, mercari, and all of them are hot beds for product fraud as well as the use of bot purchasers whom buy all of certain stock then resell the product at obvious and unreasonable price mark ups to catch uninformed consumers off guard.
Just recently I was looking at hoping to purchase a used propane tank holding cage, for my four bbq propane tanks. Get a little extra storage safety going on rather than having them free setting on the side of the home. I found brand new storage tanks at several sites, wal mart and direct from made in usa manufacturing company. Then I searched ebay looking for used and found the exact same items listed as brand new and free shipping. The catch; The cost was around $400-$600 brand new from the manufacturer, and on ebay they were $2.5k mark up costs if not far higher. And for the exact same product, it appeared from the same seller at variable thousand dollar higher cost increments. Pay as much as you want, for the exact same thing. As if anyone is falling for this when the exact same higher and lower product appears as associated product recommendations in the next online viewing square. That’s some expensive free shipping I’ll tell you. Some researchers have speculated this is money laundering right out in the open and nobody is actually shipping anything when these purchases at marked up prices are made to money laundering associates. But as I’m just a regular citizen trying to buy products online, I can not say.
Last week I ordered what was listed as a brand new xbox controller from an amazon third party fulfillment company. Listed brand new, PowerA controller wired. Came in the box like it was brand new, but what was inside was a dirty worn out broken old controller I had to return. Amazon allowed an immediate refund before verification of return mailing or anything. Leading me to believe they know all about how these sellers are pawning off used items as new, and continue to allow these companies access to their platforms. This is also something people talk about in online social networking forums.
The legal violations most certainly fall under a much wider umbrella than the scant collection of legal codes an apparent AI bulletpoint presentation has illustrated here. There may be sec violations, ice could look at this, there may be wire fraud as well. It could go as far as rico violations, as the activity is apparently sanctioned by the companies allowing the sale. Then again, the actual volume of new account creation and ability for counterfeiters or those dealing with these systems is truly unlimited. If they can’t create a million throw away accounts, they can simply buy hacked accounts from the online black markets which appears to be quite common activity as well. I get a fresh phishing scam spam email through Xfinity email systems literally five days every single week and have for over a decade. I report everything to reportphishing at apwg dot org, but nothing ever seems to come of this.
Digital identification authentication is not a workable solution. We’d rather have some fraud flowing around as opposed to relinquishing rights with some of the egregious newer proposals such as requiring a digital identification card just to get on the internet. This is the nature of free markets. You can’t regulate morality and there is no governmental structure possible in a free society which can effectively police all crime everywhere all at once. There must be a victim for there to be a crime. So listing these products is only technically illegal under a limited range of statutes and codes. But if the fraud occurs, then there is a crime. And it’s all too late for people to do anything about this if they’ve purchased from online retailers a world away whom are beyond the reach of local law enforcement jurisdiction. This relates to the arguments for isolationism, buying locally to support your local economy, and arguments against a globally connected marketplace for regular citizens purchasing regular items, often from across the world.
This proposal sparks the imagination and is an important thing to talk about. Guess what. It’s only going to get exponentially worse from this day forward due to the inability of government to effectively prohibit artificial intelligence systems. Due to the nature of predatory corporations themselves whom developed and promoted the AI tech. For everything good people perceive from this advanced technology, there will be far worse outcomes than anyone can imagine as long as AI tech remains an unregulated technology.
Caveat Emptor. Buyer beware. Your dollars. Your choice to take the risk or not. You could choose to buy American. You can choose to go to a brick and mortar store and deal with a real individual whom can be held account to the law in your own jurisdiction. When online consumers choose to participate in the global marketplace, without any protections, simply to buy trinkets or even expensive items, they accept that risk completely and absolutely.
The governments rightful position in American society is to protect our rights. Nothing more. Nothing less. Otherwise we’ll end up living in a tyrannical society with no freedoms or rights. This is where TORT law comes into play, lawyers, claims courts, representation, pursuing grievances of harm to be made whole, for financial compensation or other forms of distress. If enough people are harmed by any fraudulent or otherwise irresponsible or illegal practice, they can also form class action lawsuits to pursue litigation and compensatory damages. All of that happens under civil claims and TORT. They are effective alternatives and often better more readily available solutions than seeking redress via government assistance through criminal law.
This Policies for the People website is something else. We get everyone and their neighbor here to propose dramatic expansion of government and policy to further their personal goals and wishes. Yet many are not appropriately educated on the structure of government or legal frameworks. Especially not AI generated proposals, these technologies are inhuman and propose an infinite stream of destructive policies framed in a way with completely disregards constitutional rights. I’ll argue cruel and unusual punishment against anyone whom proposes I should be governed by a robot. Many proposals may do more harm than good. It’s the age old argument; ‘Why doesn’t some one else do something about my problems?’ If you got ripped off call the police. If it’s out of their jurisdiction, call a lawyer. But sorry, We The People, the informed ones at least, take a general and constant position we don’t want expansion of government, and are not acceptant of even higher taxation for more government services. Especially not to provide complete strangers additional entitlements, welfare, or legal services.
Be careful what you wish for.
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