Articles by James M. Morrow

After some hesitation, Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HWP) announced Thursday that it will go through with plans to join a consortium of high-tech heavyweights that hopes to create a virtual reference directory for e-commerce The Universal Description, Discovery and Integration (UDDI) project was begun two months ago by Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) and several...

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) opened debate Thursday on possible new e-commerce regulations, specifically whether existing laws should apply to software and other types of Internet downloads According to an FTC advisory, the two-day forum will consider how "government, private industry and consumer advocates can work together to ensure th...

Value America, the Internet retailer that once hoped to become the Wal-Mart of the Web by selling everything from low-end cosmetics to high-end electronics, has announced the sale of its electronic services business to Merisel, Inc Value America filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on August 11th, when the firm's executives realized that they...

In a speech given Thursday at the Michigan offices of Visioneering, Inc., Texas Governor George W. Bush lashed out at the high-tech policies of his opponent, Vice President Al Gore, and told the audience that he would be the best man to protect and grow the Internet economy With less than three weeks remaining until Election Day and the race a stat...

More people are shopping online but are spending less money per person, according to numbers released Friday by the National Retail Federation (NRF) and Forrester Research (Nasdaq: FORR) According to the numbers -- which Forrester has been releasing each of the past nine months as part of the NRF/Forrester Online Retail Index -- 15.5 million U.S. a...

Officials from the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) and other government groups said Monday that they need to take more of a role in protecting cyberspace from outside attacks -- even though huge portions of the American economy are now operating on secure information networks held by the private sector Speaking at the National Information Syste...

Recent U.S. government security lapses have made Americans less confident in the security of their personal data online and may have weakened trust in new e-commerce authentication devices like digital signatures, according to a study released Monday by the Information Technology Association of America (ITAA) Perhaps most worrisome for those involv...

The use and abuse of spam and the fight over domain names are the subject of two lawsuits gathering steam in the courts that could affect online business conduct in the future, according to published reports A suit against an anti-spamming organization by a New Hampshire business was allowed to proceed Thursday by a Santa Clara, California Superior...

Though California's Silicon Valley is famous for being the world's haven for e-business, local governments need to better help industry management and employees deal with the many challenges of life in the area, according to a report released Wednesday by an area non-profit organization Joint Venture: Silicon Valley Network, which unveiled the "Int...

British businesses are holding their own in key areas of adapting Internet technologies, and are ahead of its European competitors in Germany and Sweden in terms of engaging in e-commerce, according to a report released Tuesday by Britain's Department of Trade and Industry According to the study, which was unveiled by Britain's e-commerce minister ...

Travelers frustrated with airline delays are increasingly finding ways to stay connected to the Internet, as both airline carriers and automakers are expanding their wireless technologies to customers. United Airlines (NYSE: UAL), reeling from customers angry at delays and cancellations, said last week it will begin offering wireless Internet access in up to 50 air terminals around the world, starting next year.

With a landmark law authorizing the use of e-signatures having just taken effect, U.S. Congressional lawmakers hosted representatives of the budding industry in Washington, D.C., Wednesday and received hands-on demonstrations of the new technology Under the Electronic Signature in Global & National Commerce Act (also known as the E-SIGN law) which ...

Forces on both sides of the battle over Internet privacy took their dispute to the U.S. Senate on Tuesday, where executives from America Online (NYSE: AOL) and Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HWP) testified in favor of legislation that would protect personal data The bill, introduced by Senators John McCain (R-Arizona) and John Kerry (D-Massachusetts), call...

Despite lingering concerns about fulfillment and privacy, nearly 100 percent of consumers who shopped online during the 1999 holiday season said they are willing to give e-commerce another chance this year, according to a study released Tuesday by AT&T The study, which polled 150 e-tailers and 600 consumers, found that 97 percent of last year's hol...

The use of Napster by young people may make headlines, but Americans 50 years of age and older are apparently the real aficionados of music on the Web According to a report released Tuesday by Media Metrix, older Americans have been flocking to a variety of sites where they can download songs and learn more about music at a growth rate far higher t...

Michael Dell, founder and chief executive officer of Dell Computer Corp. (Nasdaq: DELL), told an audience at his company's DirectConnect customer event in Texas on Thursday that businesses have failed to maximize productivity and profits from the Internet Dell was reacting to a study, co-sponsored by his company and the Center for Research in Elect...

United Parcel Service (NYSE: UPS) announced a new e-commerce returns service Wednesday designed to help the Atlanta, Georgia-based company gain a larger slice of the delivery market in time for the coming holiday rush "UPS Returns on the Web," as the program is called, is a browser-based system that runs on UPS' own servers and allows customers to ...

Despite widespread public concern over Internet fraud, shopping on the Internet is a secure way for both individuals and businesses to conduct business, according to a study released Tuesday by ActivMedia Research LLC The study, "Real Numbers Behind E-Transactions, Fraud & Security," suggests that while businesses and their Webmasters must be vigil...

Holiday e-commerce this year is expected to rise just 66 percent over 1999, or barely half the growth rate of the year before, according to a report released Monday by Jupiter Communications (Nasdaq: JPTR) Jupiter, an Internet commerce research firm, projects sales will reach a total of about $11.6 billion (US$) this holiday season, compared to $7 ...