Following the crash of the online ticket sales of the Colorado Rockies, the state of Colorado is making a push to establish new regulations on ticket sales.
The crash was blamed on what Rockies officials described as a “malicious attack” on their ticketing operation. Published reports have blamed the attack on software, or “bots”, which are designed to get around website securities in order to purchase more tickets than is regulated.
State lawmakers want to make the use of such software illegal. The penalty, a misdemeanor that can carry up to 12 months in a county jail and a $1000 fine along with the ability of authorities to confiscate the offenders tickets and their profits.
According to the Associated Press, Jan Zavislan, deputy attorney general for consumer protection in Colorado, told lawmakers that with more tickets being sold online, the state could be the first to attempt to scare off buyers from using similar software in Colorado.
“This is just the tip of the iceberg that we’re going to see,” Zavislan told TicketNews.
An investigation into the crash of online sales was opened by the Los Angeles branch of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Laura Eimiller, spokesperson for the FBI told TicketNews in January that the investigation was still ongoing. With FBI investigating, the state of Colorado never pursued an investigation of their own.
Ticketmaster took action against the developers of these “bots”, RMG Technologies, in the fall of 2007. At that time, U.S. District Court Judge Audrey B. Collins ordered RMG to stop creating and selling software that allowed users to scoop up large blocks of tickets.
Colorado is just the latest state considering reform around ticket sales, and if the proposed bill is passed, other states may follow suit.
