E-Commerce

The World Trade Organization (WTO) yesterday ruled that the United States violated its international trade obligations by prohibiting online gambling. The WTO said the U.S. should open its borders to international online casinos. The office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) vowed to v...

In a move to compete in one of the Internet's fast-growth markets, IBM yesterday announced plans to start offering hosted service for its Web conferencing. Big Blue will target small- to mid-sized businesses (SMB) with an offering planned for December. Web conferencing software integrates teleconfer...

"Guilty" on all three counts was the finding of the Virginia jury on November 3 in the nation's first felony spam prosecution. The greatest shock was when the jury returned a sentence of nine years against Jeremy Jaynes when many on the jury did not even know what spam was prior to the eight-day jur...

Security firms are warning of a new e-mail worm that began infecting computers just days after the vulnerability it exploits in the Internet Explorer (IE) browser was made public. The worm, which some information security experts say is a variation of the MyDoom virus that ravaged the Web earlier th...

In one of the largest instances to date of widespread big-rigging on auction site eBay, eight sellers have been ordered to pay US$90,000 in fines and restitution after admitting to engaging in practices that artificially drove up the prices of their auctions. The sellers began to pay restitution to ...

In a move to cash in on a booming market for local business searches, SBC Communications and BellSouth plan to acquire YellowPages.com. Together, SBC and BellSouth plan to develop a comprehensive, nationwide online business index that leverages the Yellow Pages brand name. The acquisition will combi...

The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) -- following in the footsteps of its recording industry counterpart, the RIAA -- announced today its intent to file a series of lawsuits aimed at stopping the sharing of films over peer-to-peer (P2P) networks. The MPAA claims to lose more than US$3 mi...

An "information age undercover investigation" led by the U.S. Secret Service has arrested 28 individuals in eight states and six foreign countries who were accused of being involved in a global cyber organized-crime network. Charges against the suspects include identity theft, computer fraud, credit...

From the Model T to modern cars and from dusty trails to super-highways, historians tabulate the remarkable evolution of transportation -- the good and the bad combined. However, alongside the great wonders of four wheels, there are the traffic jams, the carjackings, the drive-by shootings and the a...

New data shows the popularity of alternative browsers continues to erode the once monolithic market share of Microsoft's Internet Explorer, even before the latest version of Mozilla's Firefox, which formally hits shelves next week. The latest data from Web analytics firm WebSideStory shows that the ...

Yahoo is hogging the tech media headlines today as observers seek to separate fact from fiction. As the dust settles, it is clear that Yahoo is planning a new search tool, may not be losing its head honcho to Disney, and has wooed a former ABC programmer to its camp. First things first. Yahoo chief ...

From New Zealand to India, worldwide tech media is buzzing with headlines about China cracking down on thousands of Internet cafes. In a market that has some 87 million Internet users -- the world's second-largest population of Netizens after the United States -- the implications on e-commerce have ...

Interactive marketing firm DoubleClick said it has hired an investment banking firm to help it examine strategic options, including a possible sale of all or part of the company. In a brief statement, DoubleClick said it had tapped Lazard Freres & Co. to "explore strategic options for the busine...

Dell has declared war on spyware writers. The company announced on October 20 that all of its computers starting November 1 will ship with a free security software package. Dell's announcement to provide its customers with pre-installed antispyware and antivirus software follows industry assertions ...

To make amends for a disruption in its service earlier this month, PayPal is waiving transaction fees for payment recipients in the United States and some other countries. Sellers will be credited for any transaction fee -- normally 1.9 percent to 2.9 percent -- charged on payments made today from 1...