EBAY'S DIRTY LITTLE SECRET: FAKE "CELEBRITY NUDES"

We are PRO EBAY. This site is calling attention to an oversight. One that can be corrected easily.

EBAY has a history of allowing abuses...but correcting them. At one time "hidden camera" nude images were allowed. Not now. EBAY evolves and changes. Chloroform was allowed to be sold...until Peter Braunstein bought some and used it to sexually assault a woman in New York. 

Let's not wait for another Braunstein who might come after Jodie Foster with: "I bought these nude pictures of you on EBAY. I think they're real. So pose for ME..." Let's not have another Theresa Saldana case. 

This site advocates EQUALITY for Ebay bidders and sellers, and asks that "Celebrity Nudes" be BANNED.

The main reasons:

1) These images don't involve "consenting adults." Professional pornography involves willing actors and actresses and photographers paid for their work. "Consent" forms are on file. This isn't the case with "nude celebrity" photos EBAY sellers grind through a home printer.  Federal Law requires a signed release as per:

Title 18, Sections 2257 and 2257A, all models, actors, actresses, performers and/or other persons who appear in any visual depiction or “sexually explicit conduct” (as that term is defined in 18 U.S.C. §2256).

See the FBI website:

http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/investigate/vc_majorthefts/cac/2257-program

2) EBAY already has a list of banned "offensive materials" (described further below) and it should include women depicted in sexually violent ways and without their knowledge. 

3) The "VeRO" program is not the answer. Most people (YOU included) have no idea there are "nude celebrity" images for sale in a secret area of EBAY. How is Natalie Portman or Eliza Dushku or Erin Andrews supposed to know? 
EBAY thinks a star should have a "VeRO" (verified rights owner) rep scanning the site. But even if Natalie Portman gets one,  dealers stopped for selling her images do it to everyone else, and if suspended, get a fresh account. Banning this material would allow anyone who sees such an image to report the item...which would instantly decrease the abuse. You don't see adult DVDs in the main area of EBAY because a few dedicated people report them as soon as they appear. Ebay even bans a paperback novel about rape in their "adult" section...so banning images depicting Emily Watson raped or Sarah Michelle Geller in bondage have no place either.

4)  "Nude celebrity" images are designed to degrade and humiliate. The more wholesome the star, the worse the pictures are. "Prurient interest" is what these images are about, and "prurient interest" is a definition of obscenity:

The secret porn area of EBAY:  http://www.ebay.com/chp/everything-else

EBAY actually has rules in their "porn" area: http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/adult-only.html

EBAY defines "obscene" as an "incest" paperback novel but not cruel Photoshop images done without a star's consent:

EBAY's page on offensive material:  http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/offensive.html 

EBAY protects animals, bums, dead people...not women whose images were stolen and used to degrade them via rape, gangbangs, urination, and other extreme acts?

 A
EBAY rules on "Celebrity Materials" state that sellers are banned from taking celebrity photos and putting them on a CD-R or mousepad or t-shirt:  

http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/celebrity-material.html
http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/signatures.html

Yet EBAY thinks it's ok for someone to download photos, make "nude celebrity" fakes and sell hundreds of those??

Ask Kari Rameriz, the publicist for EBAY at press@ebay.com when EBAY will change their rules. Ask the VERO department: vero@ebay.com. Ask the "Office of the President" at ootp@ebay.com. Will you get a form e-mail saying "we are taking appropriate action" or will you be able to get a real response on why they are allowing this menace?

Maybe you should write to CEO John Donahoe directly: John Donahoe, eBay CEO, 2145 Hamilton Avenue, San Jose, CA 95125  

Note this picture of ERIN ANDREWS, a woman who was involved in sexual harassment issues. The photo on her is presented as REAL. 

She has no idea what is going on...and hopefully won't find out by some EBAY winning bidder visiting her home, showing her this photo, and a knife. 

There is no getting around Federal law. Title 18, Sections 2257 and 2257A says that model releases must be on file. No exemption by stating "I have a good faith belief the model is 18." Every porn mag, every reputable website selling adult-oriented photos, states compliance with Federal Law. EBAY should not be an exception. 

EBAY should be a fun place to buy and sell what is legal and proper to sell.

Allow our favorite stars, living or deceased, to be treated with dignity and respect. We hope the day will come soon when we can state: PROBLEM SOLVED. EBAY LISTENED. 
ELL

The 
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