Why does it matter if they used Ebay to make a profit? How does that affect anything related with the case? Its not like Ebay was in cahoots with the terrorists. You must be having a slow news day....

Now true investigative reporting would tell me what they sold on Ebay.

It is also somewhat ironic that these terrorists rely so much on the technology created by the societies they are trying to destroy.

You fotgot to mention they used Google to find out how to make bombs and Yahoo mail to coordinate the entire effort. And of course they used Microsoft Windows. This way your article would get oh-so-many hits.

Well, eBay just made it easy and convenient simply by the way eBay operates. These alleged terrorist could have just as easily sold lemonade on a street corner to raise funds.

Greg,Greg,Greg
Where have you been since 9/11 under a rock? The importance of Ebay is that since 9/11 terrorists cant go to Western Union any more. How do we know if they were just posting bogus items for sale and then just funneling money to the next terrorist and not attracting any attention since its just Ebay. Good thing the authrities didnt take your stance "Why does it matter if they used Ebay"

Um, Greg, please don't buy anything on Ebay from a guy named Osama !

The press has a subtle way of saying things. What does EBay have to do with it? What if they bought and sold things through Sotheby's? They are still terrorist idiots willing to blow themselves up for a cause that will NEVER bear fruit. The world WILL NOT surrender! Coexistence is the only option!

Greg...I don't believe they were trying to say that E-Bay was in "cahoots" with anyone. They simply made the point that THAT was how they aquired their funds. Not any different than if they'd set up a hot dog stand & sold Oscar Meyer hot dogs!

w3rd

I'm with Greg. Ebay matters how, or why?

Seems like simple media fear and bias against anything "internet" to me, make it all as spooky and fringe seeming as possible. What happened to real news based on things like threats and facts rather than spin? Looked into the drug war recently, checked our results over the years? That might make a good article.

I don't expect it though, I expect more hype and fear rather than information.

I agree. Ebay should have no reason to comment. It would be no different if they had funded their plot using money made when working at some office.

I have read a lot of news reports lately about liquid explosives. Experts say there are no liquids that can simply be mixed together to produce an explosive. The process involving hydrogen peroxide is said to be a complex one that requires careful temperature control and several hours of time to complete. No doubt the intent was to create explosives, but it could not be done as described above. Something is missing with this story.

Guess what? Its all bogus. Hollowing out a battery in an 'experiment' is a far cry from what was claimed they were planning.
I'd rather wait for the jury to decide.

Regarding EBay, what's next, Craig's List?

There's only one way to stop these terrorists. Let's close down the internet. I'm serious here. I could possibly buy a book from Border's, on line, and learn some chemistry. Or maybe map my getaway on Expedia. And I could use blogs and even posts here to embed secret messages.

There are some dense folks here. Reggie has it right: The significance of eBay is that online, international buying and selling of individual items - not just huge import and export deals, subject to all sorts of controls and surveillance - may have been a fruitful way for terrorists to transfer funds "under the radar". Obviously, if these terrorists were just raising a little money by selling stuff, they could have done it with yard sales or bake sales or whatever. But the trading model of eBay provides another way to move cash around the world without really sending anything material off in return. Expect that the spooks will be keeping an eye on these international "auction" transactions in the future, if they haven't been up to now! (And bless them for doing it. I prefer to fly without bombs or mad bombers.)

This story reeks of fabrication. The message? Ebay must be clamped down on. Not because it is a gray area in the economy, because it is a source of terrorist funding.

"Numerous AA batteries were siezed"

"holes were drilled in the bottoms of bottles" as obviously the large holes with caps at the tops of the bottles were too big.

This story is so dumb it has to be a feint.

By the logic being used by some of the respondents here, we need to clamp down on the ways that terrorists make their money (thereby stopping the terrorist?) so we need to clamp down on the construction industry (bin Laden), the US military (numerious South American terrorists), and the automotive industry(Hitler got money from Ford)
People are so concerned with the violence coming from everyone else, but that terror is nothing that 2/3 of the world lives with on a daily basis. That famine in the world is our fault (Ya mine too!). We demand low food prices... the economies have to be leveraged somewhere.