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In the few years since the Internet has become an important venue for commerce, communications and entertainment, cybercops have tried to impose a variety of rules, regulations and guidelines to protect the interests of consumers and businesses. Unfortunately, however, no mechanism yet exists to ...

A long, long time ago, before Amazon.com modified its "Earth's Biggest Bookstore" slogan to encompass all the other merchandise on its virtual shelves, e-commerce took its first baby steps by selling books to the world's hungry readers. Now, almost exactly seven years later, the latest and hottes...

Amazon.com is reportedly exploring relationships with clothing retailers, a move that could result in yet another new market for the e-tailing giant. Amazon could launch an online clothing store that features items from Nordstrom and Gap -- which includes Banana Republic and Old Navy -- as early ...

Companies took a break from laying off workers from Internet-related jobs in June, with just 684 layoffs announced, according to a report from international outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas. By comparison, dot-coms cut more than 2,000 jobs in May. But the respite might be just a...

In a move intended to attract Java developers, Microsoft has released a new programming tool that rounds out its .NET software strategy. Visual J# .NET is a development tool designed to be used by Java-language developers building applications and services on the .NET framework. The tool compleme...

To say that eBay has a devoted following is like saying the Beatles were liked by some teenage girls. While true, the statement does not reflect the full scope of fans' zeal. But the adoration is not universal. Recurrent complaints of fraud, shoddy bidding practices, and poor search engine capabi...

In every quarter since the dot-com meltdown began, industry analysts and investment bankers have been predicting a tech comeback. But a seemingly unending string of disappointing earnings reports has forced overly optimistic forecasters to retract forecasts of imminent rebound. "When you hit the ...

Cisco Systems this week completed two acquisitions aimed at augmenting some of its product lines. Gartner analyst Mark Fabbi told the E-Commerce Times that both deals flesh out parts of the networking giant's overall strategy. And analysts predicted that Cisco soon will make additional acquisitio...

While WorldCom has been severely battered by revelations of improper accounting and accusations of fraud, a new Yankee Group report suggests the company has what it takes to survive the current crisis. Yankee Group vice president Eileen Eastman told the E-Commerce Times that there are four possib...

Different experts' definitions of e-commerce might vary, but most agree on one thing: The sector represents a growing piece of the overall commerce pie, and its share is expected to increase steadily -- though gradually -- over the next five years. For example, Forrester Research figures show tha...

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has filed a civil fraud suit against WorldCom over the company's $4 billion misstatement of financial results during 2001 and the first quarter of 2002. SEC Chairman Harvey Pitt said the move is intended to prevent the type of document destruction that ...

In a newly released analysis criticizing the U.S. Federal Communications Commission, market research company Gartner Dataquest said a "radical reform" of telecom policy is needed if the rollout of high-speed Internet services, or broadband, is ever to break out of the slow lane. "There's a firest...

Every day, eBay looks more and more like the strongest swimmer in the dot-com pool. Nowhere was that more evident than at its recent three-day smile-fest in Anaheim, California, where thousands of eBay devotees came to hear Meg Whitman and others detail the company's plans for world domination. I...

Following WorldCom's disclosure of what appears to have been one of the largest financial misstatements in history -- nearly $4 billion -- the company has fired chief financial officer Scott Sullivan and announced its intention to redo its financial statements for the past five quarters. "Now we ...

Priceline.com said it would not meet its own sales targets for the current quarter, pointing at the failure of an expected seasonal increase in airline ticket sales to materialize. The name-your-price e-tailer said that second-quarter revenue would be about 5 percent below the company's previousl...