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History
- Advanced to third reading
- 2nd report cal.
- 1st report cal.497
- Reported and committed to codes
- Committee discharged and committed to investigations and government operations
- Referred to cultural affairs, tourism, parks and recreation
- Print number 4032a
- Amend and recommit to codes
- Reported and committed to codes
- Referred to investigations and government operations
Companion bill
The same bill in the other chamber. A bill becomes law when one version passes both houses and the governor signs it, so either number can carry it.
Establishes certain crimes relating to automated ticket purchasing software
In Assembly Committee · Tourism, Arts And Sports Development · Sponsor Kenneth Zebrowski
Full text
The text isn't available here yet. Check nysenate.gov.
Sponsor's memo
Title of bill
An act to amend the arts and cultural affairs law, in relation to automated ticket purchasing software
Purpose of the bill
The bill will prevent the use of automated ticket purchasing software that bypass security measures to purchase large quantities of tickets, thereby reducing the number of tickets available on first offering to the public.
Summary of provisions
Section 1 of the bill amends the arts and cultural law by adding a new section 23.25. Section 1 of the bill defines the term "automated ticket purchasing software". Paragraph 2 of the bill establishes utilizing automated ticket purchasing software shall be guilty of a violation. Paragraph 3 of the bill establishes that a person who supervises the operation of automated ticket purchasing software shall be guilty of a violation. Paragraph 4 of the bill establishes any person who possesses automated ticket purchasing software shall be guilty of a violation. Paragraph 5 of the bill establishes that any person that knowingly sells and/or exchanges in any manner, tickets purchased with automated ticket purchasing software within New York State shall be guilty of a violation. Paragraph 6 provides that for each violation of the provisions of this section shall be punishable by a fine not to exceed one thousand dollars. Paragraph 7 Authorizes the attorney general to enforce the provisions of this section.
Justification
In 2007 the Legislature passed a bill that was signed into law, which eliminated a prohibition on the resale of tickets at more than the premium face value. This has resulted in a proliferation of businesses and individuals that buy up large quantities of tickets at face value and resell them in a secondary market for a profit. These businesses and individuals use an automated device or computer software to navigate the primary website and buy up large quantities of tickets. This results in less tickets being available to the general public at the face-value price. Ticket websites such as "Ticketmaster" have attempted to avoid this practice by instituting security measures that attempt to thwart the automated software. These security measures include verification software such as "CAPTCHA" which uses a series of letters and numbers that are visually distorted in order to authenticate that the purchase is made by a human. unfortunately, as with most fraudulent activities, they have been successful in staying "one-step" ahead of the ticket companies and have developed more intelligent software and devices. In fact, "Ticketmaster" has recently been involved in a lawsuit against "RMG Technologies" which sells software that allows ticket brokers to gain fast buying access to the "Ticketmaster" website. This bill would make it illegal to use any software or device that seeks to bypass security measures in order to purchase large quantities of tickets for re-sale. This will result in more tickets being available to the public at the price intended by the vendor.
Prior legislative history
New Bill.
Fiscal implications for state
None.
Effective date
This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall have become law.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.