The curious thing about the ticket sales model is authorization. Ticketmaster was authorized to sell tickets, but when a group bought all the tickets and resold them for profit, they fell into trouble with the law. SFGate reports on the Alameda man charged in ticket-hacking scam:

Lowson and Kirsch were part owners of Wiseguys, while Stevenson was the company’s chief computer programmer and Nahdi was chief financial officer, authorities said. The men created computer programs that bombarded online ticket vendors including Ticketmaster.com and purchased tickets automatically by impersonating individual visitors, investigators said.

Joel Stevenson faces a 43-count indictment and charges of wire fraud — his work earned an estimated $25 million.