Ticketmaster knows it has a bot problem, but it wants Congress to fix it

In November, millions of Taylor Swift fans logged on to Ticketmaster hoping to scoop up tickets to arguably the most-anticipated tour of 2023. When the time came, the site crashed, rendering verified users unable to purchase admission to the singer’s first slate of shows in five years. In the immediate aftermath, Ticketmaster parent company Live Nation explained that while 1.5 million people had signed up as legit customers, over 14 million hit the site when tickets went on sale — many of which were bots. 

Live Nation president and CFO Joe Berchtold told the Senate Judiciary Comittee on Tuesday that the company “learned valuable lessons” from the Swift debacle. “In hindsight there are several things we could have done better – including staggering the sales over a longer period of time and doing a better job setting fan expectations for getting tickets,” he said. 

Berchtold told Senators that Ticketmaster experienced three times more bot traffic that day than it ever had before, and that a cyberattack on the company’s verified fan password servers exacerbated the problem. He explained that despite investing over $1 billion in ticketing systems since the Live Nation/Ticketmaster merger, mostly to combat fraud and scalping, the company has a massive bot problem that it can’t get a handle on. 

“We also need to recognize how industrial scalpers breaking the law using bots and cyberattacks to try to unfairly gain tickets contributes to an awful consumer experience,” Berchtold said. What he called “industrialized scalping” led to the Taylor Swift fiasco, he explained, but the executive wants Congress to act to prevent similar incidents from happening in the future. 

Berchtold called for Congress to expand the scope of the BOTS Act to “increase enforcement.” Signed into law in 2016, the legislation makes it illegal to bypass a website’s security or tech features as a means of purchasing tickets. It also makes it illegal to resell tickets obtained via those methods. Specifically, Berchtold called for banning the use of fraudulent URLs and stopping the resale of tickets before their general on-sale date. 

UNITED STATES - JANUARY 24: Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., speaks during the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing titled Thats the Ticket: Promoting Competition and Protecting Consumers in Live Entertainment, in Hart Building on Tuesday, January 24, 2023. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
Sen. Marsha Blackburn during Tuesday’s hearing
Tom Williams via Getty Images

The law leaves enforcement with the FTC and states, a topic Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn discussed with Berchtold in some of the most pointed questioning of the session. “You told me yesterday you block about 90 percent of the bot attacks that you get, and that’s a failing grade,” she said. “There ought to be people you can get some good advice from because our critical infrastructure in this country gets bot attacks every single day. They have figured it out, but you guys haven’t?”

Blackburn admitted that the FTC has only taken action on the law once, and that the lack of widespread action was “unacceptable.” She pledged to do something about the lack of enforcement through the dealings of the Senate Commerce Committee, where she is also a member. 

“The FTC has the authority, but you have a responsibility to consumers,” she continued. “I agree they are not exercising it, but how many times have you called the FTC and said ‘we need your help?'”

Berchtold explained that Live Nation had only contacted the FTC once about suspected bot activity — in late 2019 and early 2020. He said that was the only time they had necessary information to work with the commission in order to get a prosecution. “These are not bots that are trying to break into our system, they are trying to impersonate people… putting true fans at a disadvantage,” Berchtold told Blackburn when asked why Live Nation has such a hard time recognizing bots.

In regards to the BOTS Act, Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal told Berchtold there are already legal options available to the company to go after scalpers using bots to procure tickets.

“You have unlimited power to go to court,” Blumenthal said. “Your approach seems to be that everyone else is responsible here — not us.” 

Google will once again apply Gmail spam detection to political campaign emails

Google doesn’t plan to let political campaigns dodge Gmail’s spam detection for much longer. The Washington Post has learned that Google plans to end the email filter bypass pilot program by the end of this month. In a dismissal motion filed at a federal court in the Eastern District of California, the company rejects the Republican National Committee (RNC) allegations of political bias that led to the test. Gmail’s filtering methods “apply equally” to every sender whether or not there’s a political connection, the company says.

The pilot was a response to RNC accusations in October that Google was censoring right-wing fundraising emails by marking them as spam. The committee pointed to a study that supposedly backed the claims, but Google maintained that messaging frequency, user responses and other non-political elements dictated filtering behavior. Even so, Google acknowledged the pressure and got permission from the Federal Election Commission (FEC) to run the test. The experiment was already set to end in January, but it wasn’t clear if Google would extend the program until now.

Over 100 Democrat and Republican committees joined the program after it was approved in August. However, the RNC wasn’t one of them. Google points this out in its new filing, asserting that the Republicans want to accuse the firm of unfair treatment instead of participating in the solution.

In a statement to Engadget, Google spokesperson José Castañeda says a recent FEC decision “confirmed” it doesn’t filter email for “political purposes.” The representative also maintains that the RNC complaint is “without merit.”

On top of the company’s own objections, numerous advocacy groups and other critics urged the FEC to reject the looser approach to political emails. They were concerned this change would let political candidates from any party spam users with few repercussions. With this latest filing, the debate is moot — politicians will have to take a careful approach if they expect campaign messages to go directly to your inbox.

Hitting the Books: That time San Francisco’s suburbs sued the airport for being too loud

San Francisco has long sought to square its deeply-held progressive ideals with the region’s need for tangible, technological progress. SFO international airport, which opened for business in 1959 and has undergone significant expansion and modernizati…

UK bill would ban videos portraying Channel immigrant crossings in a ‘positive light’

The UK government is still expanding the scope of its Online Safety Bill. Digital, Culture, Media and Sport secretary Michelle Donelan said in a statement that politicians will propose amending the bill to ban videos portraying Channel immigrant crossings by boat in a “positive light.” Those clips are “aiding [and] abetting” immigration law violations, according to Donelan. As with child sexual abuse material (CSAM) and terrorist content, internet platforms will have to pull crossing-related footage quickly.

The culture secretary detailed other significant proposed amendments. Senior company leaders could face prison time if they’ve “consented or connived” to ignore online child safety requirements. Platforms will also have to remove content that promotes LGBTQ conversion therapy practices. Violations of any aspect of the bill could lead to fines up to £18 million (about $22.3 million) or 10 percent of a company’s global turnover.

The amendments should be ready for a version of the bill reaching the House of Lords. The changes came after pressure from Conservative MPs like Natalie Elphicke, who serves Dover — a frequent landing site for illegal immigrants.

The alterations aren’t surprising given growing concerns in the country over the impact of illegal immigration, not to mention existing provisions in the bill for child safety. However, they add to the feature creep of a bill that has already been delayed several times. There have been concerns the Online Safety Bill might not pass before the next general election, due within two years.

The new provisions also won’t satisfy critics like the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which already claim the measure amounts to censorship. They’re worried the bill will also hurt privacy by eroding protections for the use of end-to-end encryption. Whatever your stances on the issues, it’s safe to say the changes would further limit what UK residents are allowed to say online.

FAA’s NOTAM computer outage affected military flights

On January 11th, the Federal Aviation Administration paused all domestic departures in the US after its Notice to Air Missions (NOTAM) system failed. The agency later revealed that the outage was caused by a database file that was damaged by “personnel who failed to follow procedures.” Now, according to a new report from The Washington Post, the database failure also created issues for tools used by US military pilots. 

One of the affected systems was the Defense Internet NOTAM Service (DINS), which typically comes with FAA alerts regarding flight hazards. During the outage, military pilots were either getting NOTAMs in duplicates or not getting any at all. The Post said an FAA bulletin notified military users that the system had become “impaired and unreliable.” Unlike civilian flights, which had to be grounded, military flights can proceed in situations like this. An Air Force spokesperson told the outlet that the military branch’s pilots had to call around to ask for potential flight hazards themselves. 

The outage had also erased all NOTAMs submitted to the system starting on Tuesday afternoon, so airports and air traffic controllers were asked to re-submit them. Further, the FAA had to deal with delays and other challenges after the system went back up due to a “high system load.”

The FAA is still verifying what caused the outage, but The Post said it’s looking like the contractors truly made mistake and that there was no malicious intent behind their actions. Lawmakers are using this opportunity to put a spotlight on the FAA’s outdated technology and to seek funding for upgrades. The computer system that failed and led to the outage is already three decades old, and according to CNN, it’s also at least six years away from getting an upgrade. It remains to be seen if the incident will change that timeline.

House Republicans form panel to shape crypto policy

Now that Republicans have control of the House of Representatives, they’re hoping to set the agenda for crypto. Financial Services committee Chair Patrick McHenry (above) has announced a Subcommittee on Digital Assets, Financial Technology and Inclusion that aims to set policy for technologies like cryptocurrency. Headed by Rep. French Hill, the panel hopes to establish “clear rules of the road” for federal regulators, create policies that bring financial technology to poorly served communities and bolster diversity and inclusiveness in digital assets.

In an interview with Politico, McHenry said he was creating the subcommittee to address a “big hole” in Financial Services’ approach to crypto issues. McHenry considers crypto regulation his main legislative priority, and panel chair Hill has led the GOP’s investigation of a potential central bank-backed cryptocurrency.

The move comes as regulators struggle to find common ground on crypto. While agencies like the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) agree that digital assets are subject to existing laws, there have been tussles over just who should step in and when. Senators put forward a bill that would create a clear regulatory framework, but it has been stuck in committee.

There’s pressure on the House subcommittee to act. The implosion of crypto giant FTX has underscored the risks of letting the technology go unchecked. Officials are also investigating major industry names like Celsius and Coinbase over possible rule violations. Clearer rules would theoretically improve the federal government’s responses to violations like these.

It’s uncertain how effective the House panel will be. While there are crypto proponents across both main parties, the Democrats’ expanded control of the Senate could prevent bills from becoming law if there are any substantial disagreements. Both sections of Congress have to pass and reconcile legislation before it reaches the President’s desk. The very existence of the subcommittee suggests that Congress is taking crypto more seriously, however, and there’s a chance it could accelerate bipartisan efforts to oversee digital money and tokens.