Press release: “Google Inc. today announced the launch of Google Checkout, a checkout process that makes online shopping faster, more convenient and more secure for Google users. Google Checkout offers an easy and trusted checkout option that enables shoppers to purchase from participating stores with a single Google login.” More information on this Official Google… Continue Reading
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Category Archives: E-Commerce
Senate Defeats Net Neutrality
In an 11-11 vote today, the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, & Transportation defeated the Communications, Consumers’ Choice, and Broadband Deployment Act of 2006 (otherwise known as Net Neutrality). Senate Panel Narrowly Rejects Net Neutrality – Broadband equality proposal may be dead for this congressional year. Related postings on net neutrality Continue Reading
Industry Leaders Call For Federal Privacy Legislation
The Consumer Privacy Legislative Forum (whose members include Google, Microsoft, Oracle, EBay Inc., Hewlett-Packard Co., Intel Corp., Sun Microsystems Inc. and Symantec Corp.) issued a statement supporting “a serious process to consider comprehensive harmonized federal privacy legislation to create a simplified, uniform but flexible legal framework.” Google Official Blog: “On an Internet beset with spyware,… Continue Reading
The Battle for Search Engine Dominance Continues
The un-Google, June 15, 2006, from The Economist print edition (free online, if you view an advert first): “Google dominates the lucrative market for web-search, but its rivals [Microsoft, Ask, Yahoo] are setting out to change that.” Most Microsoft Workers Search With Google – Do employees at Microsoft, Yahoo, and Google use their own search… Continue Reading
Online Banking 2006: Surfing to the Bank
Pew Internet, Online Banking 2006: “Online banking is holding steady as a mainstream internet activity, growing along with internet use generally, though not accelerating as have some other forms of online activities. Fully 43% of internet users, or about 63 million American adults, bank online.” Online Banking 2006: Surfing to the Bank (3 pages, PDF) Continue Reading
Hearing on Broadband Internet Access, Competition and Consumer Protection
Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Reconsidering Our Communications Laws: Ensuring Competition and Innovation, June 14, 2006. Links to member statements and testimony [HTML] FTC press release on testimony: “The Federal Trade Commission today told the Senate Judiciary Committee that as the Committee considers legislation to amend the Communications Act, it should preserve the FTC’s existing authority… Continue Reading
Consumer Efforts to Ward Off Span and Spyware Still Fall Short
WSJ free feature: Seeking a Safer Internet – New Tools Flag Sites With Spyware, Spam – But the Technology Is Far From Perfect Continue Reading
Congressional International Anti-Piracy Caucus 2006 Watch List
Congressional International Anti-Piracy Caucus 2006 Watch List: “…the Caucus announced they will focus on China and Russia as high priority countries, due to the scope and depth of their piracy problems. The Caucus will also closely monitor the serious problems of copyright piracy in the following countries: Mexico, Canada, India and Malaysia.” Continue Reading
Internet Caucus Advisory Committee Hosts Discussion and Posts Issue Papers on Net Neutrality
June 8, 2006: “The Internet Caucus Advisory Committee (ICAC) hosted a discussion focusing on the legislative proposals percolating in Congress on so-called Network Neutrality. No fewer than six House and Senate bills are circulating in Congress that in some way address this amorphous policy question.” [Link] “…the ICAC has requested of all its 200 member… Continue Reading
Offshoring of Web Content Maintenance and Support Increasingly Common
BusinessWeek.com: Life On The Web’s Factory Floor – Who do you think turns all those words into an easy click? “Behind the seemingly magical offerings of the Internet are thousands of human beings madly inputting data around the clock…The number of third-party, offshore companies that will perform contract work has more than doubled since 2002,… Continue Reading
Pros and Cons On Net Neutrality Legislation
5/18/2006 – Press release: Sensenbrenner, Conyers Introduce Bipartisan Net Neutrality Legislation [H.R. 5417: Internet Freedom and Nondiscrimination Act of 2006] Related documents and links: The Economics of Net Neutrality, Robert W. Hahn, Scott Wallsten. Related Publication 06-13. Apr 2006. “This essay examines the economics of ‘net neutrality’ and broadband Internet access. We argue that mandating… Continue Reading
Call for Regs to Limit Sale of Social Security Data On Net
Social Security Numbers: Internet Resellers Provide Few Full SSNs, but Congress Should Consider Enacting Standards for Truncating SSNs, Full-text report GAO-06-495, and Highlights, May 17, 2006. “According to experts we spoke to, there are few federal laws and no specific industry standards on whether to display the first five or last four digits of the… Continue Reading
