[OPLIN 4cast] OPLIN 4Cast #730: You're a mean one, Mr. Grinch-Bot.

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OPLIN 4Cast #730: You're a mean one, Mr. Grinch-Bot.
December 23rd, 2020

[image: The Grinch wrapped in christmas lights] When I was three, all I
wanted for Christmas was Biff the Bear
<https://www.antiquesnavigator.com/d-381414/vintage-1965-mattel-biff-bear-toy-in-original-box-works.html>.
My parents searched everywhere. At the eleventh hour, they saw a little
girl take the store's last one out of the box. Trying not to seem like a
creepy stalker, my dad followed her around until she set it down and
stepped away. The frazzled cashier was not up to hunting down the price.
"Five bucks?" Dad pretended that was fair, and handed over the money.

I expect by now you've got your gifts in hand (or are nervously updating
delivery trackers). Each year it gets harder to lay your hands on the
hottest gifts. Automation, of course, is to blame. You may have to resort
to following a kid around Walmart, hoping he puts down that PlayStation 5.

   -
   - Can’t get a PlayStation 5? Meet the Grinch bots snapping up the
   holidays’ hottest gift
   <https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/12/16/ps5-buying-bot/>
[*Washington
   Post*] "Shopping bots aren’t new, but their use is growing fast.
   Deployed by people who buy and resell tickets, high-end sneakers and
   designer fashion, they’re now expanding into other categories where demand
   outstrips supply — including grocery delivery slots at the height of the
   pandemic."
   - Bot is the New Black (Friday): How Retailers Can Fight Back
   <https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/opinions/black-friday-retailers-fight/>
   [*Infosecurity Magazine*] "In effect, every hot product release is a
   form of DDoS attack."
   - How the Grinch Bots Stole Your Sneakers
   <https://undark.org/2020/11/27/how-the-grinch-bots-stole/> [*Undark*]
   "What about Captchas, those I’m-not-a-robot puzzles visitors to a website
   are forced to complete before accessing certain pages? It turns out that
   bots have been able to read wavy words and identify streetlights in
   photographs for a while now."
   - Fight back against 'Grinch bots' with a bot of your own
   <https://www.fox35orlando.com/news/fight-back-against-grinch-bots-with-a-bot-of-your-own>
   [*Fox 35 Orlando*] "But there is a way to fight back, deploy a bot of
   your own... Shopping bots are legal for now. Back in 2016, the Federal Bots
   Act criminalized ticket scalping bots, but retail shopping bots are not
   included in that legislation."

*From the Ohio Web Library <http://ohioweblibrary.org>:*

   - Bridge, Mark. “Bots Steal Christmas by Driving up Toy Prices
   <https://search-ebscohost-com.proxy.oplin.org/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nfh&AN=7EH132693545&site=ehost-live>
   .” *Times, The (United Kingdom)*, Dec. 2017, p. 25.
   - Pogue, David. “Time to Kill Off Captchas
   <https://search-ebscohost-com.proxy.oplin.org/login.aspx?direct=true&db=sch&AN=71696749&site=ehost-live>
   .” *Scientific American*, vol. 306, no. 3, Mar. 2012, p. 23.
   - Peterson, Scott. "Creating Bots with the Microsoft Bot Framework, Part
   1
   <https://www.lynda.com/Azure-tutorials/Creating-Bots-Microsoft-Bot-Framework-Part-1/594439-2.html>."
   *Lynda.com*. Released 5/19/2017.

------------------------------
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