The EU announced a plan in December 2002 to create a European E-business Legal Portal with the stated purpose of facilitating electronic cross-border transactions. On schedule, the Commission launched the site, eBusiness Lex that “contains information and resources on a range of relevant issues, including contractual aspects, online payments, privacy and data protection and intellectual… Continue Reading
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Category Archives: E-Commerce
Google Makes Major Acquisition
Google is onboard the money train with their acquisition of Applied Semantics, “a company that makes software that analyzes the content of Web sites in order to match them with appropriate advertising,” according to this Reuter’s story. See the Google press release here, which states, “Applied Semantics’ products and engineering team will strengthen Google’s search… Continue Reading
The Internet and State Sales Taxes
A new report from Consumers Union, The Internet Tax You Don’t Know You Owe: Thousands of conflicting regulations lead to confusion, inconsistent taxation online. Continue Reading
IRS Free File Program and Privacy Issues
The IRS Free File program has generated usage far beyond agency expectations, with 53 million taxpayers anticipated to file eletronically this year according to CNN. However, there is a flip side to this free web service. A coalition of advocacy groups (EPIC, Consumers Union, the Consumer Federation of America, National Consumer Law Center, and the… Continue Reading
Google and E-Commerce
Google’s Offspring: Taking Baby Steps critiques the search engine’s e-commerce site, Froogle, through which users can find information about a wide range of products for sale on the web by category. Continue Reading
New E-Commerce Bill
New e-commerce bill introduced in the House on February 26: the Jurisdictional Certainty Over Digital Commerce Act, H.R. 945. Continue Reading
Amazon To Sell Internet Addresses
According to a report in today’s Seattle Times via AP and Bloomberg, and the March 1 WSJ, on December 6, 2002 ICANN granted Amazon.com approval to sell TLD (top level domain) Internet addresses to the public. A search of ICANN’s site yielded confirmation of this approval in a very discreet manner: on a ICANN-Accredited Registrars… Continue Reading
Review of Airline Booking Sites
Consumer Reports published a new survey of the top six online travel booking websites. Sites are scored for credibilty, usability and content, and include CheapTickets, Expedia, OneTravel.com, Orbitz, TravelNow.com and Travelocity. Continue Reading
eBay and Customer Privacy
Last week, Israel’s Haaretz Daily published an article, Big Brother is watching you – and documenting, detailing statements made by eBay’s Director of Law Enforcement and Compliance, Joseph E. Sullivan, at the CyberCrime 2003 conference. Mr. Sullivan’s presentation, “eBay: Working with Law Enforcement,” was made behind closed-doors, but according to the article, was recorded. Sullivan… Continue Reading
Overture Purchases Web Unit from Fast Search
Overture Services, Inc. has made its second major Internet search engine acquisition in one week’s time. On February 18, the company announced the purchase of AltaVista for $140 million in cash and stock. On February 25 came the announcement of the acquisition of the FAST Web Search(TM) algorithmic search, AlltheWeb.com(TM), and FAST PartnerSite(TM) paid inclusion… Continue Reading
California Cracks Down on Cyber Doctors
The California Medical Board is targeting doctors who provide services to patients via the Internet without the benefit of an in-person consultation. Many patients obtain a wide range of prescriptions in this manner, and according to this Sacramento Bee article, the state has levied fines totaling $48 million against six out-of-state doctors. The fines will… Continue Reading
Electronic Data Collection on Transporation Manifests
In a post on January 6, 2003 I noted a proposed rule from DOJ that would subject transportation manifests to electronic monitoring. On February 3, EPIC filed comments on the privacy implications of this rule with the INS. For the first time, data would be collected electronically on all U.S. and non-U.S. residents. Continue Reading
