Articles by Chet Dembeck

According to a new report by Forrester Research, Inc., all online sales should and will be taxed just like brick-and-mortar sales. "The buyer's physical location at the time he or she takes possession of the goods should determine sales tax liability," the report says. Currently, under what is known as "nexus," e-tailers are only required to colle...

When controversial Internet advertising firm DoubleClick, Inc. unveiled its online privacy initiatives Monday, the company immediately received a cynical reception from privacy advocates In a public statement, Junkbusters Corp. president Jason Catlett blasted DoubleClick's self-policing actions by calling them "window dressing on their previous pos...

In an effort to jump-start e-commerce, the European Commission (EC) has warned European Union (EU) member governments that they must foster competition for local telephone lines that connect homes and businesses to the Internet by December, or be forced to do so The EC's stiff threat comes just one week before a scheduled hearing in Brussels on unb...

Last Friday, shares of online bookseller Fatbrain.com lost one-third of their value when three brokerage firms downgraded their investment rating on the stock Shares plummeted $6.87 to $13.87 (US$) on the Nasdaq Stock Market after an analyst call Thursday caused brokerages U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray and Banc of America Securities to lower their rat...

As the investigation into last week's denial-of-service (DoS) hacker attacks narrows its focus today, U.S. President Bill Clinton is expected to propose a new Internet security center at a meeting with high-tech executives According to a planning document, the new Cyber-National Information Center, or Cyber-NIC, will be a place where companies can ...

When giant e-tailer Amazon.com reported its fourth quarter earnings earlier this month, the company reignited an old debate over whether pure-play Internet e-tailers are fundamentally capable of turning a profit Many critics pointed out -- and rightfully so -- that despite enjoying skyrocketing revenues, the company reported significant losses. The...

U.S. investigators and computer security experts have reportedly narrowed their search for the perpetrators of last week's denial-of-service (DoS) hacker attacks against some of the Internet's most popular Web sites down to at least two possible suspects Law-enforcement officials have been attempting to gather evidence by analyzing network traffic ...

In the wake of this week's attacks on some of the Internet's most popular Web sites, the White House has announced that it will convene an Internet security summit with high-tech industry leaders next week According to published reports, as many as 20 top Internet executives will meet with President Clinton, Attorney General Janet Reno, Commerce Se...

At a news conference Wednesday, the Federal Bureau of Investigation said that it is mounting a worldwide hunt for those responsible for a wave of cyber-attacks against major Web sites The FBI was responding to the third full-scale hacker assault in as many days, as online broker E*Trade and a number of other sites had traffic disrupted by a coordin...

Earlier this week, when the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that it is promoting mediation over lawsuits as a means to resolve online disputes between e-tailers and consumers, I welcomed the news The agency contends that if measures are not put in place to keep the already sluggish legal system from bogging down e-commerce, it could s...

The Internet and e-commerce fell victim to a third full-scale hacker assault in as many days Wednesday, as online broker E*Trade and a number of other sites had traffic disrupted by a coordinated stream of data requests from multiple Internet addresses These incidents came on the heels of Monday and Tuesday's orchestrated cyber-assaults on Yahoo!, ...

Just one day after a hacker attack on Yahoo! shut the giant portal down for several hours, several leading e-tail sites were similarly affected by what appears to be an orchestrated, Web-wide act of sabotage At last count Tuesday, Amazon.com, Buy.com and online auctioneer eBay had joined CNN.com as victims of the cyber-assault, bringing the total o...

Reports earlier this week that online powerhouse Amazon.com is being sued by individual consumers as well as being investigated by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for privacy issues are the culmination of suspicions that have been coming to a boil since late last year Late Monday, Amazon.com revealed that the FTC is investigating its Alexa ...

If you are interested in playing 18 holes with Tiger Woods or taking batting practice with New York Yankee Derek Jeter, a new company called Ultimatebid.com has made a deal to auction off such "experiences" to the highest bidder via the Internet Not a sports fan? Not to worry. You can also bid to go backstage with supermodel Heidi Klum at a fashion...

Auction portal Bidder's Edge, Inc. filed an antitrust lawsuit against eBay, Inc. yesterday, alleging that the giant online auctioneer had attempted monopolization, interfered with contractual relations, and utilized unfair practices This legal action comes less than a week after the U.S. Justice Department began investigating eBay to determine whet...

Giant online auctioneer eBay, Inc. announced Friday that all items related to hate groups such as the Nazi Party or the Ku Klux Klan will have to meet specific criteria before qualifying for auction on its site According to a posting on its message board, eBay will not allow any listing that promotes hatred, violence or racial intolerance -- or lis...

United Parcel Service, Inc. announced today that it has formed a subsidiary that will perform back-end fulfillment functions for e-commerce companies and also help companies develop their supply chain management operations This direct foray into e-commerce by the world's largest package delivery service -- to be known as eVentures -- comes several ...

Earlier this week, America Online became the latest e-commerce giant to be slapped with a class action lawsuit Filed Monday in the Eastern District Court of Virginia on behalf of subscribers, the lawsuit against the online giant alleges that some subscribers who installed the new AOL version 5.0 software encountered a bug that prevented them from u...

The U.S. Justice Department is reportedly investigating online auctioneer eBay, Inc. to determine whether its efforts to block price comparison search software from probing its Web site are anti-competitive Since the investigation by the department's antitrust division is in a preliminary stage, there is no indication that formal action against eBa...

Charles Schwab & Co., the granddaddy of discount brokers, has all but suddenly changed roles from being the hunter to the hunted The company announced yesterday that it will acquire online brokerage CyBerCorp for $488 million (US$), and will also slash its trading rates to as low as $14.95 for higher volume customers.