Articles by Mary Hillebrand

Embattled Internet music service provider MP3.com (Nasdaq: MPPP) suffered a legal setback Friday when a U.S. federal court ruled against the company in a copyright infringement lawsuit brought by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York grant...

MSNBC.com, the Internet's top-ranked general news site, announced Wednesday that it has signed a deal with eFANshop to add online shopping to its Sports channel MSNBC.com is adding the e-commerce component to target some of the Web's most acquisitive users -- 20 to 40 year-old males.

In a concerted effort to spur the growth of e-commerce and other technology firms in the state, Maryland Governor Parris Glendening signed 12 technology initiatives into law Tuesday. The legislation is designed to provide new security and privacy protection for consumers and give law enforcement agencies greater crime fighting power Glendening expe...

The Clinton administration's new Critical Infrastructure Assurance Office held a series of meetings this week to remind IT professionals that the world is relying on U.S. companies for Internet security "It is the boardrooms of America that hold the key to ensuring the Internet and computer networks will always be open for business," Commerce Secre...

Though the Internet is not quite ready for prime time -- much less Hollywood -- Miramax Films announced Tuesday that it will be offering selected movies over the Internet for consumers to rent or buy. The decision follows a recent announcement from MGM that it will be opening the doors of its huge film library to the Web Miramax entered a non-exclu...

Triple-digit growth in online sales of leisure travel services is probably over, but indications are strong that the business will continue to flourish, according to a new study from Jupiter Communications (Nasdaq: JPTR) In the United States, consumers booked $6.5 billion (US$) of leisure and business travel online last year, nearly three times the...

Data from a new geographic Internet usage report released by Nielsen//NetRatings (Nasdaq: NTRT) indicates that the pattern of Net usage in the top 20 U.S. markets does not correspond with population size The report focuses on total size of an Internet market, the percentage of residents using the Internet, how long they stay on, how their Web use a...

U.S. Secretary of Commerce William Daley is treading a fine line between respecting China's approach to trade and telling the Communist country's leaders to copy the United States' successful e-commerce policy in order to gain entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO) Capping a week-long trip to Beijing to promote better trade relations between...

President Clinton issued a "National Call to Action" Tuesday to combat the "digital divide" between people who have computer access and knowledge and those who do not A host of Internet companies and organizations have already agreed to lend their support, providing hardware, software and training for youth, families and communities in danger of be...

At the urging of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), two of the Internet's largest auction houses, Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN) and eBay, Inc. (Nasdaq: EBAY), have agreed to assist consumers by including CPSC product recall information on their sites The CPSC says it has the power to order retail stores to remove hazardous or defective...

A recent survey by the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) shows that almost 40 percent of computer users aged 45 and older lack the confidence to shop for goods and services online A lack of Internet skills among many Americans born between 1945 and 1964 -- a key demographic known as the "Baby Boom Generation" -- is apparently the prima...

7-Eleven, Inc. (Nasdaq: SVEV) is using a new $540 million (US$) capital injection from IYG Holding Co. to roll out kiosks in its U.S. stores that will eventually enable those outlets to act as distributors for online merchants 7-Eleven, which is owned and operated by 7-Eleven Japan Co. Ltd., announced a deal with NCR Corp. (NYSE: NCR) to start plac...

Research firm International Data Corp. (IDC) is projecting that online bill presentment and payment will generate more than $1 billion (US$) in worldwide revenues by 2004 "Buying products over the Internet with a credit card has become a common occurrence, but viewing the credit card bill itself and submitting a payment to settle it electronically ...

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced Thursday that 150 organizations in 28 nations have pledged to join forces to tackle Internet fraud FTC Bureau of Consumer Protection chief Jodie Bernstein described the cooperative effort as the largest of its kind. "Internet con artists are bad actors without borders. We want them to know that the ...

Despite the likelihood that the Advisory Commission on Electronic Commerce (ACEC) will fail to achieve a consensus after months of rancorous debate, both houses of the U.S. Congress are now considering the formation of a similar body to examine online privacy issues This week, Representatives Asa Hutchinson (R-Arkansas) and Jim Moran (D-Virginia) i...

The Clinton administration has announced plans to send a bill to the U.S. Congress that would require online drug retailers to be licensed in the state in which they reside and post basic operational information on their Web sites The plan has the support of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which will expand its current efforts to track down...

With one of Congress' most active and vocal Internet advocates scheduled to leave Capitol Hill in November, Republicans and Democrats are already scrambling for the powerful chairmanship of the House Commerce Committee Republican Tom Bliley has used his committee post as a pulpit for e-commerce, supporting his Internet-heavy home state of Virginia ...

In an unprecedented effort to attract and hold on to key employees, Andersen Consulting has announced that it will invest $200 million (US$) in e-commerce related companies on behalf of its employees and add an additional $100 million each year "The electronic economy is too new and fast changing for consultants to offer advice from the sidelines,"...

The state of Virginia has enacted a controversial new Internet commerce law designed to affirm individual contracting parties' rights to set their own rules for contractual electronic transactions The Uniform Computer Information Transaction Act (UCITA) is being heralded by Virginia Governor James Gilmore as nothing more than a clarification of Vir...

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) launched a Web site Monday that is designed to counter the recent rash of hacker activity by keeping the public informed of the nature of criminal activity on the Web and the legal ramifications of such acts The site, www.cybercrime.gov, was launched on the heels of a report released last week by a White House-a...