@Philip Cohen: Ebay's masked aliases for bidders
I disagree with your view on masked bidding, you're entitled to your own view, but you should state that it is your view and not state is as fact.
A consequence, and I would argue that it is an unintended consequence, might be that it creates the effect of wire fraud, but to suggest that Ebay's intention that this was "deliberate criminal facilitation..." is just plain wrong. Have you stopped for one moment to think about what it is your suggesting?
There are good reasons and I am sure Ebay's intentions were good when they introduced the masked alias approach for bidders, I for one was grateful, and for reasons I'm not going to disclose.