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The U.S. economy is continuing a five-year growth streak -- one largely unheralded until of late. The reason for the decided lack of enthusiasm may be, simply put, that this economic boom is a lot less widespread than the technology-based boom of the late 1990s. Last month, the Department of Labor a...

The consumer electronics industry is enthusiastic about President Bush's new United States Trade Representative (USTR) appointee, former Motorola executive Susan Schwab, but other industries aren't as keen on his pick. Bush elevated Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Schwab to the department's top pos...

A new mode of movie ownership is briskly emerging -- one which someday may challenge the hegemony of the digital videodisc (DVD). During the last few weeks, Hollywood debuted two films, "King Kong," and "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire," via a new media, broadband, Internet-based "download-to-ow...

The White House and the Pentagon aren't the only government agencies embracing public key infrastructure -- encryption -- for Internet security. State agencies in Illinois, and other states, like Virginia, are as well, and, in a twist, they are now farming out the management of the services to third...

What is the most important factor that will influence executive pay and hiring in the technology industry this coming year? Is it globalization? Data management? Business process improvement? No. None of the above. It's Google. Failure of a company to factor in how Google will influence its own bott...

A new survey from America Online's Tegic Communications division shows that a "surprising number of people" in America and Europe are sending Christmas and Hanukkah greetings by text messaging this year, rather than through conventional, paper cards via the mail. The survey is based on data from the...

A new teleommunications reform bill which would create a market-oriented regulatory system -- treating Internet telephony the same as conventional phone service -- is moving through Congress, experts tell the E-Commerce Times. The bill is sponsored by Senator Jim DeMint (R-S.C.). According to a stat...

State-run venture capital funds are increasingly financing early stage technology companies, picking up some of the slack left by private venture capitalists in the wake of the stock market bubble's burst, experts tell the E-Commerce Times. Thirty-six states have venture funds, and the largest is Ma...

Research by the consultancy A.T. Kearney's telecom practice indicates that the Federal Communications Commission's proposal for "a la carte" pricing of cable TV programming may have an adverse impact on the development of Internet TV and Internet Telephony. Sweeping changes in telecom regulation cou...

A survey of certified fraud examiners says that the Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) law -- passed in the wake of scandals at technology companies like MCI/Worldcom -- is an effective tool in fraud identification, though few believe it is actually changing the culture of business. The survey, conducted by Overs...

The usage of ".US" domain extensions is sharply rising, with organizations switching to alternative top level domain extensions rather than ".com" to bolster their online brand with American audiences, according to Sedo.com, a leading online marketplace for the sale of domain names, based in Cambrid...

A national survey by The Ernst & Young Consumer Trends Center predicts that online sales this holiday shopping season will increase, as consumers seek to combat high gas prices by eschewing trips to the traditional shopping mall. A copy of the survey provided to the E-Commerce Times indicated th...

Government -- and industry -- executives are moving forward with plans to increase the use of authentication technologies, and prevent fraud online. The Direct Marketing Association, based in Chicago, two weeks ago issued a set of rules for its members, and the federal government, a few days earlier...

The standards for setting charges -- and later sentences -- for hackers differs dramatically on a state by state basis. But one thing is increasingly clear -- authorities are stepping up action against hackers of mobile phones, PDAs and conventional computer systems. New developments in mobile phone...

A lawsuit filed against Web sites that allege search engine results on Google.com were rigged by a placement firm is being watched throughout the Internet industry, as possibly having an impact on the free speech rights of bloggers, experts tell the E-Commerce Times. The Las Vegas-based search engin...

The FBI and other federal law enforcement agencies are investigating allegations of fraud by small charities -- or organizations posing as such charities -- that arose in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Online bill payment service PayPal, stepping up its security in response to the concerns over onli...

For the last year or so, online financial institutions and their IT consultants -- as well as consumer interest groups -- have focused on fixing security, adding authentication and encryption and other technologies to forestall scammers. But the phishing plague continues. Now, experts tell The E-Com...

Internet TV -- long hyped by Microsoft and other major computer industry players -- has a new advocate. A non-profit corporation is developing a free, open source, Internet TV (IPTV) platform with funding from technology industry luminaries Mitch Kapor and Andy Rappaport. The organization, Worcester...

A new bill introduced by a Democratic Senator from Arkansas aimed at taxing online porn sites -- at a 25 percent rate -- is raising Constitutional concerns among legal scholars. The bill is called the Internet Safety and Child Protection Act of 2005 (S 1507), and has been referred to the Senate Fin...

Online auctioneer eBay this week strengthened rules to prevent fraud on its site, as cases continue to emerge of disreputable sellers misrepresenting the products they market there. One allegedly fraudulent eBay merchant was sued this week by the Missouri Attorney General, Jay Nixon, after an indivi...