EBay spent $411,450 on lobbying in 3rd-quarter - on visas for foreign workers

[somone]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-01-04/ebay-spent-411-450-on-lobbying-in-3rd-quarter.html

EBay spent $411,450 on lobbying in 3rd-quarter

WASHINGTON (AP) — EBay Inc., which runs its namesake e-commerce site and PayPal online payment business, spent $411,450 in the third quarter to lobby the federal government on online sales tax collection, visas for skilled workers and other issues, according to a quarterly disclosure report.

This was more than the $363,500 eBay spent lobbying in the second quarter but less than the $539,000 the company spent in the third quarter of 2009.

EBay also lobbied on issues related to online privacy, organized retail crime and the resale of events tickets. It lobbied on "network neutrality" rules that would prohibit phone and cable companies from discriminating against Internet traffic flowing over their broadband networks. Such rules were adopted by the Federal Communications Commission in December.

EBay, which is based in San Jose, Calif., lobbied Congress, the Commerce Department, the U.S. Trade Representative and the Federal Trade Commission, among other government agencies in the quarter, according to the disclosure report the company filed with the House and Senate clerks' offices on Oct. 20.