Where\u27s the Consumer Harm? The BOTS Act: A Fruitless Boogeyman Hunt

Historically, the secondary-ticket market for sporting events, concerts, and the like entailed hollering scalpers perched outside of venues. Though this practice has not been entirely extinguished, the internet has largely moved the secondary-ticket market online to websites like StubHub, the largest player in this arena. Instead of yelling loudest or finding the best real estate outside a stadium from which to perch, the modern ticket scalper competes most effectively in the secondary-ticket market by finding ways to access primary tickets online. By using ticket bots, programs designed to autofill customer information and solve CAPTCHA prompts, modern scalpers can quickly purchase large quantities of tickets from primary-market sites like Ticketmaster. The goal of the modern scalper is the same as the goal of the hollering scalper of the past: to resell these tickets for a marked-up price. States have responded to modern bots-based ticket resales with the whole gamut of legislation, ranging from no regulation, to disallowing online ticket bots, to wholesalers banning ticket resale altogether. Congress upended states\u27 disparate approaches in 2016 with the enactment of the Better Online Ticket Sales (BOTS) Act, which effectively prohibits the use of bots for online ticket resale and charges the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) with its enforcement. The problem, however, is that the BOTS Act attacks a nonexistent boogeyman. Neither ticket bots nor the modern scalper creates marked-up ticket prices in the secondary market; consumer demand does. Moreover, consumers have no right to attain underpriced tickets. On the flip side, performers and sports teams have every right to set prices as they see fit. Every day, the FTC prosecutes bad actors who defraud the elderly of their savings, deliberately fool consumers into believing falsehoods about a product (like sham dietary supplements), and trick people into believing celebrities endorse scam-centered products. These are legitimate consumer harms. Purchasing tickets-with full information and disclosures-on the secondary market at prices higher than one wishes to pay is not the sort of fraudulent activity that the FTC should be forced to police as consumer protection. Accordingly, this Note argues that the BOTS Act should be repealed or, at a minimum, removed from the FTC\u27s consumer-protection apparatus

“A steep learning curve”: junior doctor perspectives on the transition from medical student to the health-care workplace

Background: The transition from medical student to hospital-based first year junior doctor (termed "intern" in Australia) is known to be challenging, and recent changes in clinical learning environments may reduce graduate preparedness for the intern workplace. Although manageable challenges and transitions are a stimulus to learning, levels of burnout in junior medical colleagues are concerning. In order to prepare and support medical graduates, educators need to understand contemporary junior doctor perspectives on this transition. Methods: Final-year University of Queensland medical students recruited junior doctors working in diverse hospital settings, and videorecorded individual semi-structured interviews about their transition from medical student to working as a junior doctor. Two clinical academics (NS and JT) and an intern (ZT) independently conducted a descriptive analysis of interview transcripts, and identified preliminary emerging concepts and themes, before reaching agreement by consensus on the major overarching themes. Results: Three key themes emerged from the analysis of 15 interviews: internship as a "steep learning curve"; relationships and team; and seeking help. Participants described the intern transition as physically, mentally and emotionally exhausting. They learned to manage long days, administrative and clinical tasks, frequent interruptions and time pressures; identify priorities; deal with criticism without compromising key relationships; communicate succinctly; understand team roles (including their own status within hospital hierarchies); and negotiate conflict. Participants reported a drop in self-confidence, and difficulty maintaining self-care and social relationships. Although participants emphasised the importance of escalating concerns and seeking help to manage patients, they appeared more reluctant to seek help for personal issues and reported a number of barriers to doing so. Conclusion: Findings may assist educators in refining their intern preparation and intern training curricula, and ensuring that medical school and intern preparation priorities are not seen as competing. Insights from non-medical disciplines into the organisational and relational challenges facing junior doctors and their health-care teams may enhance inter-professional learning opportunities. Workplace support and teaching, especially from junior colleagues, is highly valued during the demanding intern transition