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and another reason (on it goes ;--)

Subject: Re: Unauthorized Contact information in your listings
JUL 10, 2012 | 02:33PM EDT
Shannon replied:

Hi Neil

One cannot buy or sell items on Audiogon unless they have an Audiogon account, therefore Audiogon is NOT a public website which anyone can access. We do not permit advertisement of other sites in our listings. Per our terms of use, we reserve the right to take down any listing at any time for any reason.

I will thank you to keep this unauthorized advertising out of your listings in the future.

Shannon

Audiogon Support

----------------------

and my reply . . . . .

"One cannot buy or sell items on Audiogon unless they have an Audiogon account, therefore Audiogon is NOT a public website"

I know what you're saying Shannon; eBay is just the same, however the general public still has access to all materials on the site, which puts it in the public domain. As such, you are forbidden to tamper with, or censor any individual's material unless you are willing to restrict site access from the general public, as with pay porno sites for example.

EBay has even stronger terms/policies than Audiogon, but they have tested this issue (believe me!) and now only "suggest" that buyers and sellers follow eBay policies; they cannot ( and do not !) alter/remove ad content, nor can they prevent members from exchanging private email addresses. They CAN suspend members' accounts, but except for repeated and aggressive violations, they don't. Why? Well, for two reasons: first, they don't want to discourage people from signing up and transacting business on eBay; that would really kill profits ! And second, eBay has already tested the First Amendment issue and found they'd be on very shaky ground as long as anyone can see the site and read the copy, (even if they don't have an account.)

As much as Audiogon (and eBay ;~) would like to control all activity on their sites in order to protect profits, it's just not possible; unless perhaps you were only to list the ad/auction titles publicly, and put the rest of the content behind a password; otherwise, you just can't do it. Sometimes Shannon, our personal, intuitive understandings of legal matters just don't hold up to professional scrutiny. I suggest Audiogon should consult council. Not only about the First Amendment issues, but also regarding your making claims that Audiogon can somehow protect its members' from fraud, and referee customer transactions (to make sure everybody behaves themselves? ;~) You are opening yourselves up to huge liability exposure by making such exaggerated claims about your 'protective' services. And my legal council agrees. Some profits are just going to leak out. eBay has accepted that fact, and so should Audiogon.

Like I said, my ad copy did not include:
1. email addresses, private or commercial
2. links to any public or personal websites
3. or any phone numbers, private or commercial

So in the future, please don't mess with my ad copy without conferring with me first.

Thanks,

NSG


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