U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal is pushing
legislation aimed at what he describes as
“cyber Grinches.”
The Connecticut Democrat said the goal of the
bill — which he unveiled this week — is to try
to block the use of so-called “bot technology”
that he says allows individuals to bypass security
measures to scoop up large batches of the
hottest toys of the season and then resell them
at inflated prices.
Blumenthal said the practice is unfair and
may contribute in part to the scarcity of some
of the toys.
Blumenthal compared the practice to
ticket scalping.
In 2016 Blumenthal pushed legislation to crack
down on those who used the same technology
to unfairly scoop up tickets.