IT experts deployed in fight against ticket touts
Online scalpers have been using bots to beat genuine buyers on government platforms
Officials have stepped up their fight against scalping by deploying IT experts to help fend off touts who use computer programs to buy large numbers of concert tickets online, the technology minister revealed yesterday.
Secretary for Innovation and Technology Nicholas Yang Weihsiung said IT officials had helped the Leisure and Cultural Services Department tackle bulk buyers who use so-called bots to beat competing users on the government’s online platforms.
The department operates a ticketing system for concerts held at government venues. It has threatened to criminalise scalping for events at these facilities.
Officials are also mulling over introducing “personalised ticketing” in which purchases would require a customer’s real name, and their identity would be verified at the venue. The government has
The effect was OK, though we could do better. We blocked some attacks TECHNOLOGY MINISTER NICHOLAS YANG ON STOPPING BOTS USED TO BUY TICKETS
been under pressure to address scalping for tickets to pop music shows, which are often resold for up to 25 times their original price. Fans have queued for days in advance at box offices only to be told tickets had sold out online.
In August, box-office sales for singer Andy Lau Tak-wah’s concerts had to be suspended due to a knife attack in the queues. Fans then had to buy online or by phone and there was an outcry after bots bought all the tickets.
These programs refresh a user’s connection constantly at times of high traffic and can fill in personal and credit-card information automatically to speed up the purchasing process.
Yang told a radio programme yesterday that the government’s IT department had offered assistance to the Leisure and Cultural Services Department on a number of occasions. “We have done that a few times and the effect was OK, though we could do better,” he said. “We blocked some attacks.”
He hoped a new initiative called the Smart Government Innovation Lab would help officials improve online public-service platforms. The lab, set to launch in April, will invite industry players to submit proposals for improvements, with the results expected six months later.
“Local small and mediumsized enterprises and start-ups can introduce their products to the government, and the government departments will tell the industry their needs,” Yang said.
Francis Fong Po-kiu, honorary president of the Hong Kong Information Technology Federation, said officials had used software to detect whether buyers were coming from the same IP address. “If someone keeps buying 10 tickets at a time from the same address, the system will block it,” he said. “But online scalpers can mobilise real people to buy tickets.”