Actually, You CAN'T Buy a Stingray on eBay to Track Your Friends and Enemies

Earlier this week, we noticed that a Harris Stingray was for sale connected eBay for a chill $100k. Police person historically utilized these notably creepy surveillance devices to drawback mobile postulation retired of the air via compartment operation emulation. Yes, idiosyncratic was selling 1 of these suckers for tons of money, and it had garnered a definite magnitude of interest.

However, it would look that the merchantability of said instrumentality violated eBay’s presumption of service. The platform told 404 Media that it had taken the listing down.

“Maintaining a trusted marketplace is simply a apical precedence for eBay and we marque important investments to assistance guarantee a harmless buying and selling acquisition for our customers,” an eBay spokesperson told 404 Media. “Sellers are obligated to comply with eBay policies and applicable laws and nonaccomplishment to bash truthful whitethorn effect successful consequences up to, and including, a imperishable suspension. Consistent with our Electronic Equipment Policy, we are removing this listing and volition proceed to show the marketplace.”

Gizmodo reached retired to eBay for further accusation and volition update this communicative if it responds.

Let’s beryllium honest, you astir apt didn’t privation to ain a Stingray anyway. First of all, it’s not wholly wide whether utilizing this happening arsenic a civilian would beryllium wholly legal. And it wasn’t adjacent needfully a functioning device. The listing said that it was untested, “sold arsenic is,” and didn’t adjacent travel with a how-to manual—meaning that, hypothetically, you could’ve been buying a breached $100k instrumentality whose interior machinations would’ve been inscrutable to the extracurricular observer. Chances are, adjacent if it did work, you would’ve utilized it erstwhile oregon twice, and then, similar each weird impulse buys, it would’ve sat successful 1 of the murkier corners of your garage, gathering dust.