DOJ sues eBay for selling ‘rolling coal’ devices; fines could hit $2 billion
Rolling coal is the practice of tampering with a vehicle's emissions control system, causing it to spew black clouds of sooty exhaust.
Rolling coal is the practice of tampering with a vehicle's emissions control system, causing it to spew black clouds of sooty exhaust.
AngrilyEatingMuffins, People who do this should be executed. No, I’m not joking. This is them proudly telling us that they are fine with the world burning, that they want it to burn, and fuck the rest of us for trying to save it. They are worse than a drain on society, they are actively destroying society and the world. We need to stop letting people kill all of us because they’re doing it slowly.
be_excellent_to_each_other, Let's not forget this unsurprising incident, too.
I don't know if it's gone to trial yet.
icy_mal, Rolling coal is an extremely inefficient method of converting little dick energy into kinetic energy.
luckyhunter, It’s a great way to convert money into carbon soot though.
ebenixo, law enforcement should be fully redirected off of weed smokers and onto coal rollers, but you don’t live in a just society actually
azenyr, Even as a car guy and a pro-ICE cars, I agree 100% with this. These rolling coal trucks are just cringe, and literally a waste of fuel. I can’t say I care about the climate but I also hate the ones who fuck the climate as much as 50x the amount a normal human does, on purpose just because “fuck the climate”.
StenSaksTapir, Just out of curiosity, what makes you not care about the climate? Is it some sort of fatalistic “we got 20 good years left, so might as well enjoy them” kinda deal?
corvid, You sound like a terrible person.
Daft_ish, If you rolled coal expect to be held down and repeatedly kicked in the crotch at the inevitable climate induced apocalypse.
Chunk, Can you imagine the CIA hunting down climate terrorists the same way Mossad hunts down Nazis in South America?
MrFlamey, People who drive those stupid fucking lifted trucks from the thumbnail regardless of whether or not they rolled coal will probably be next in line.
Racists4TransRights, DOJ infringing on my god-given rights to own the libs per usual
GladiusB, The libs are owned by my blue flag!!
TechyDad, The article had a video and I could only stand watching it for a couple of seconds. It started with a Russian sounding guy saying they were going to show why a Prius is dangerous to the environment. Then, they showed people laughing as they rolled coal at electric car drivers.
Is that their argument? “Electric cars are dangerous to the environment because people driving electric cars make me spew tons of smoke into the atmosphere”?
What’s next? “You recycled your can. That’s bad for the environment because that forced me to spill this toxic waste into a playground. All those kids got sick and it’s all your fault for recycling!!!”
captain_aggravated, Not sure it’s specifically eBay that should get the fine here, it should be the sellers ON eBay.
MSids, Agreed. Nobody wants the eBay police, but sellers and buyers should be the ones held accountable.
SirEDCaLot, Yes exactly. No online platform can catch 100% of prohibited activity. They are punishing the wrong people. What they should do is get a list of all the ones eBay missed, file charges against the seller and start knocking on buyer’s doors. Or maybe send some agents in an undercover Prius to pull them over and issue a fine when they get coal rolled. That would send a pretty clear message that eBay is not a safe place to purchase these items.
Arsecroft, So ebay, who profited from the sale of these devices, shouldn’t be held accountable?
Did ebay stop any listings for these devices? It seems like if they were trying to stop this market, they would have stopped some number above zero, right?
Try selling a human limb on ebay and see how quickly your listing is removed, not that I’m bitter or anything.
edit: it kinda seems like they were trying to be compliant.
orrk, so, you are right and wrong, due to the structure of the American legal system those DIRECT at fault are fines/sued first, then they are supposed to turn around and file a suit for damages against the next party down the line, so eBay should sue the seller.
same thing in motor vehicle incidents, if a car A and B are waiting in traffic and car C rearends car B to the point it hits car A, the man in car A is supposed to sue the guy in car B who then sues the guy in car C for damages
IzzyJ, That’s the most retarded (I’m autistic) thing I’ve ever heard
orrk, well, it’s how the law works
guacupado, You’re responsible for what people on your platform do.
trash80, The banks are getting away with murder.
BeardedGingerWonder, While you’re right, they do also have extensive KYC checks in place for this reason.
paintbucketholder, And that’s hardly a good thing either.
captain_aggravated, Here I thought the modern internet is able to exist because platforms specifically are not responsible for what its users do.
echodot, Sort of. They essentially have to be given the opportunity to take corrective action but if they don’t then they get fine. Or indeed other things depending on the severity of what’s happening.
See Reddit and all the subs they were eventually forced to shut down.
RubberElectrons, To a point, I suspect that applies to speech things, not necessarily physical items.
But that’s a good question, I don’t know where the line lies.
dym_sh, the line lies where you start harming other people (and their habitat), that’s literally the definition.
your freedom ends where my freedom begins
echodot, Yeah but what if I’m an idiot redneck then other people aren’t allowed freedoms. Only me.
RubberElectrons, Hmm. While I agree generally, your response seems a little vague. Definition of…? Freedom?
I’m saying I wonder where, formally, a company goes from being an information platform, to something else. That’s the very point at which ebay started becoming liable for what people did on their systems.
They’re not just hosting pictures, they’re selling real-world items to circumvent laws in a visibly annoying way. People in CA get away with uncovered high intensity off-road aux lights because nobody’s really abused them.
Coal-rollers like being obvious, stinky dickheads, hence the crackdown on both sales and installations.
zaph, It’s illegal for imgur to host illegal images I can see why eBay would be responsible for people selling illegal items.
CileTheSane, Imgur has to take down the illegal image when requested to do so. Imgur isn’t charged for having a user upload an illegal image.
zaph, This is the part that bothers me too. Assuming they haven’t been asked to remove them already that is.
timetraveller, Imgur hosts the images vs eBay only hosts the information, the sellers ship the product to the buyer
orrk, big thing about Ebay is they often also process the transactions
timetraveller, Very good point.
zaph, Hosting is hosting and images are information.
arin, If someone sells cocaine on eBay does ebay get fined? How about illegal porn?
YeetPics, Fuck yea, take ebay for all their worth and publish the customer logs so we can deal with the customers the old fashioned way.
sysadmin420, SPAM and robocalls?
RGB3x3, If by SPAM you mean hurling salty meat chunks, and by robocalls you mean the T-1000 making a house call.
YeetPics, Dial 9x19 for more information.
bob_wiley, deleted_by_author
YeetPics, Yea totally that.
Franzia, I’ve been coal rolled and driven off the road as a recreational cyclist on rural, lonely roads. The last time I felt safe cycling on the road was 5 years ago?
HiddenLychee, Yup. Montana drivers will hunt down cyclists and run them over, if not roll coll on them until they choke and fall over. Love this place!
batmangrundies, Seems like the entire Western world is dealing with a rise in anti-social behaviour on the roads since the pandemic started.
lemann, Honestly things have gotten so much worse IMO, most drivers are not paying attention and I’ve been almost smooshed a few times. Slowing down and trying to stay out of cars’ way can only do so much…
The ones that force past only to pull over or turn 5 seconds later are the worst examples of impatience I’ve seen on the road in years ☹️
Grass, When you catch up to the smogmobile that went into the wrong lane to pass you ten minutes later at a stoplight…
LordOfTheChia, (edited ) Could have been worse. A 16 year old here in Texas ran over 6 cyclists while trying to roll coal on them. 2 had to be airlifted:
chron.com/…/waller-bicyclists-hit-truck-teen-driv…
four of the six cyclists who were hit were hospitalized. Two of those had to be airlifted because of the severity of their injuries.The update:
bicycling.com/…/texas-driver-assaults-six-cyclist…
A 16-year-old truck driver ran over six cyclists out on a training ride on September 25, in Waller County, Texas.
The driver was attempting to “roll coal” on the cyclists when he hit them, according to witnesses.
The driver was finally arrested on November 8 and indicted with six counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, which is a second-degree felony.
Edit: the last update from the Law Firm representing the cyclists:
MrFlamey, Holy shit. This kid will probably not see jail and will be driving again in a year or two because his weapon of choice was a car.
Psythik, Shit like this is the reason why I ditched the bike and got a car. The infrastructure is woefully inadequate for biking; more often than not you have to share the road with these idiots instead of having your own dedicated lane. Furthermore, I had way too many near death experiences. I never want to ride a bike in the US ever again.
afraid_of_zombies, If anyone is curious some states have a number you can use to report it. I keep it in my phone contacts and when I see it I tell them the license plate number.
Hackerman_uwu, This has got to be this most pathetic chapter in the American saga.
ArtieShaw, Fun fact. My workplace added recycle bins to the breakroom a few years ago. The day after, HR had to call a facility-wide emergency meeting to explain that their use was voluntary only and that no workers would be required to use them.
Grown ass adults lost their shit because they saw a recycle bin.
Hackerman_uwu, Stop it. Are you serious?
ArtieShaw, Yes, I am serious. Folks around here can be aggressively reactionary and will blow up over nothing (or what should be nothing).
I moved to this area about 12 years ago. I wasn't expecting some huge culture shock, but there it was. I had educated, millennial colleagues who were openly homophobic at work. I could go on with a list of grievances, but it just feels like piling on and I don't have the option to get out.
IzzyJ, And this is why homeschooling and hate speech should be illegal, and assault legalized against certian people
Hackerman_uwu, JFC I’m sorry things are this way. That is crazy.
_haha_oh_wow_, Fuck anyone who does this: If I see you rolling coal, I will make a point to fuck with you and your stupid fucking ride.
Yoink, your valve stems are now mine and there’s some sort of liquid in your stupid fucking stacks.
afraid_of_zombies, Check your state but there might be a number you can call to report it. Mine has one and I have done it.
YeetPics, I call 9x19 when some dipshit rolls coal.
jjjalljs, Should be allowed to drag the coal-roller out of their truck and murder them on the spot. It’s self defense.
Zetta, Lmao, don’t do this but I find your comment extremely amusing. Fuck coal rollers, they should have their entire vehicle confiscated at the very least
CADmonkey, Know what goes good with a fresh tank of diesel fuel? Water, gas, eggs, anything liquid and not-diesel, really.
uis, If they market them as intentionally modified, then probably criminal case can be opened against them.
- [x] Intention
- [x] Health hazard for others
ViewSonik, 🧎
FlyingSquid, I drive a Prius. Assholes “roll coal” when they drive next to me all the time. I don’t even get it. They’re not even giving me shit for having an electric car, they’re giving me shit because I pay less for gas than they do.
RoyaltyInTraining, Time for the ol’ “Roll coal if your dick is tiny” sticker
TheDrunkard, No, it’s because of their fragile ego.
FlyingSquid, Sure, but they do it specifically to Priuses. Electric cars too, but also Priuses and other hybrids. I’ve heard so from other hybrid owners and seen them do it too. It is definitely about their fragile ego, but I think it’s also just because they’re idiots.
Wallaby, They love to try and get me on the motorcycle all the time.
UNWILLING_PARTICIPANT, They feel threatened because they think they’ll be forced to drive a small hybrid one day. Which bothers then because, yeah… their fragile egos
FlyingSquid, Jesus H. Christ, these assholes are terrified of imaginary fascism and vote for real fascism…
RememberTheApollo_, Because my fascism where I fuck over people I don’t like is better than your fascism where you give me health care, clean air, and affordable education.
-the assholes
UNWILLING_PARTICIPANT, For some people it’s literally easier to die than to challenge their preconceptions
RememberTheApollo_, One group’s martyr is another group’s idiot.
AdaleiM, It’s happened to me and I just drive a small car. They’re doing it to any vehicle that’s not a fuckoff huge truck I guess
TheHighRoad, I think it’s more that they are fucking dumbass pieces of shit.
rabbit_wren, I’m fortunate enough to be able to walk to and from work every day. These “roll coal” bastards just hate me for it. I think it must really chap their assess to see little ol’ me bopping down the street listening to my tunes and not needing an emotional support truck the way they do.
Knoxvomica, If it’s any consolation, the fact that they are modifying their trucks which are already enormously over priced and gas suckers to suck even MORE gas when they do this to you should hopefully provide some sort of satisfaction to you. I typically point and laugh at them.
FlyingSquid, Oh I’m aware and I do laugh at them. They just also baffle me.
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