Makes you really wonder if this was an isolated incident or if there are other cases of these tactics that were successful in silencing the victims.<p>Makes me think of the series DEVS where a big Silicon Valley company also uses their security force in a similar manner, I never thought that would be the part that was the most accurate.<p>It's scary that this happened at Ebay, I dread to think what kind of shit a company with the funds of google or facebook could pull off.
This is wild. I can’t believe I haven’t heard anything about this until now.<p>Some of this stuff is pretty dark. Mailing them spiders was bad enough but then mailing a married couple books on how to deal with the death of a spouse? jfc.<p>But yeah, again, I’m surprised I hadn’t heard anything about this at all, I mean the firing of an ebay ceo for stuff like this, I feel either the story was buried, I just glanced over the articles, or it was just lost to the noise of other news (which, given the timing of other stuff happening this is probably most likely what happened.)
Past related threads:<p><i>Couple harassed by eBay execs tell their story for the first time</i> - <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28021067" rel="nofollow">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28021067</a> - July 2021 (5 comments)<p><i>eBay’s Cockroach Cult: The Story of a Stalking Scandal</i> - <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24598144" rel="nofollow">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24598144</a> - Sept 2020 (107 comments)<p><i>Inside eBay’s bizarre campaign against a blog critic</i> - <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23629056" rel="nofollow">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23629056</a> - June 2020 (136 comments)<p><i>Six eBay executives and employees charged over alleged cyberstalking campaign</i> - <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23529035" rel="nofollow">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23529035</a> - June 2020 (207 comments)
This is so terrifying. In this case they were "stupid" as in if they had done it in a more subtle way they could have easily isolated and discredited these victims via gaslighting. It does make me wonder how many politicians and CEOs like this have actually pulled things off. Here's a story how "Big Egg" "joked" about putting a hit on a vegan mayonnaise competitor: <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2015/09/03/437213511/how-big-egg-tried-to-bring-down-little-mayo-and-failed" rel="nofollow">https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2015/09/03/437213511/ho...</a><p>It's disgusting to think that these guys will get out of jail pretty soon. I would rather hire someone accused of a more "serious" crime than these twisted ex ebay execs (depending what it was) because this is just pure twisted malice.
> With a full license plate number in hand from David’s pictures, the Natick police quickly started to unravel the conspiracy.<p>> eBay’s team knew it was in trouble, according to their own messages<p>"Ah yes let's stalk these people and just hope they don't decide to take down the license plate." I guess I shouldn't be surprised that people doing awful things have an awful plan, but that's pretty dumb.
Quite apart from the obviously horrific and troubling aspects of this story, a more mundane question arises: how on earth did anyone at the company, even rogue actors, determine that the 'damage' done to eBay possibly justified the level of expense and organisation invested here in attempting to ruin this couple's lives?
As a counterpoint to Ebay's horribleness: back in the day at Etsy, we were very grateful for Ina's blog and her participation with the Etsy seller community. She was an important and respected voice in ecommerce, especially for small business owners who often struggled to choose between different online platforms. When she offered critique to a particular platform, it was always measured, well-reasoned, and fair.<p>All the Etsians that I'm still in touch with were horrified and outraged when we learned of this story.
> Unbeknownst to the Steiners, a group of Baugh’s employees had flown to Boston, rented two vehicles, and checked into the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, according to federal documents.<p>Vandals staying at the Ritz? That's classy.
This is not isolated. This was directed by senior management. I believe such actions should pierce the corporate veil and render the entire c-suite liable for criminal charges. But I am also an experienced adult, and know their c-suite will have zero repercussions beyond the expense of a PR firm.<p>Our society is unjust, unfair and unsustainable. The longer we allow this to continue, the greater the pain our society will experience in the future. We never left the Dark Ages, we are an immature childish and selfish species.
That's truly one of the most bizarre accounts of harassment I've ever read. I hope they're well and truly compensated for their suffering.
What surprises me most about this case is that there were actual consequences.<p>Usually this kind of shit ends with, at most, some low-level employees getting thrown under the bus, a manager or two "stepping down" with a generous severance package, and a quiet hush-money settlement to the victims.<p>Here, multiple directors and senior managers were fired outright, slapped with criminal charges, and IIRC at least a couple of them are doing prison time as we speak.
Something in me, somewhere in a dark and vengeful place of my soul, just wants to see the big companies burn down and let the ashes of the big tech giants be a warning memorial for future leaders that might don't make right.
A good moment to contemplate whether or not the stock market paper-clip optimizers working at Big Tech should have the power to be the arbiter of truth and the judge of free speech on the internet.
> They provided additional harrowing details of their experience beyond those disclosed in court documents, which include copies of e-mails and text messages of eBay employees that federal prosecutors say show how they conspired to terrorize the Steiners.
The couple met in the mid-1980s in Western Massachusetts at what was then called North Adams State College and is now called the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts.<p>ARRRGHHH. I want to know what happened, but for some reason the author decided I need to know their origin story. I completely zone out when this BS comes up. Give me signal. This noisy stuff is worthless to me. Keep the origin story for the eventual movie adaption or something.
Why are news like this these days?
> harassed by eBay<p>I think it's safe to say that it was some rogue eBay employees doing the harassing rather than official eBay sanctioned harassment - but there must be something wrong in eBay communication/policy for this to have happened.<p>What astounds me is how incompetent this all was - a combination of online and real world harassment is going to get law enforcement involved and the paper and online trail is going to get you found out.