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| | | March 2, 2003
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Sunday, March 2, 2003 |
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Internet sales taxation
The U.S. State of California has started considering the applicability of Internet sales taxation. Under the pressure of looming large-scale budget deficits, the state's governor, Gray Davis, who previously opposed the measure, is now looking into the potential ramifications of a move, which would oblige e-commerce retailers to collect state taxes on web sales.
Earlier in February, an agreement reached between 38 U.S. states, the U.S. District of Columbia, and several major Internet retailers went into effect, binding e-stores like Amazon.com to charge taxes for online sales. In return, the participating e-commerce sites would be granted amnesty on all past tax-free online transactions.
The controversies surrounding online sales taxation spurred passionate debates across Internet's wires. An opinion column published on TechWeb suggested lifting the moratorium on Internet taxes would trigger a chain collapse of small online retailers and would significantly hurt emerging leaders like Amazon.com. Scot Finnie, the column's author, crabbed the proposal as benefiting major-league corporate interests, such as Walmart and Kmart.
Meanwhile, David Coursey from ZDNet viewed Net sales taxes as an opportunity to give equal opportunities to businesses. Mr. Coursey also noted it would be quite unlikely that sales taxes would repulse online customers, while at the same time, they would help states to tackle the prolonged economic slump.
More from: Reuters | Wired News
U.S. government seizes piracy web site
On Wednesday, the United States government overtook the piracy web site ISONews.com. The U.S. Department of Justice seized the domain name as part of a plea agreement with the site's owner, David M. Rocci. In December last year, Mr. Rocci pleaded guilty to conspiring to violate the U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). "ISO News is now the property of the United States government," read a statement posted on the seized site, which acted as an online meeting place for exchanging piracy-related information. In addition, Mr. Rocci used ISONews.com to sell outlawed modification chips, which allowed users to outflank copyright protection mechanisms implemented in PlayStation 2 and XBox gaming consoles.
For the first time, the U.S. government turned a seized web site into an anti-piracy effort, spelling out the potential consequences of piracy activities on the Internet. A day after the announcement, however, news agencies reported the web site was still accessible via its old numeric IP address.
More from: CNET News.com | PC World | Reuters | The Register | Washington Post
Positive news for legal online music services
The week offered upbeat news for the legitimate online music business. America Online, the world's largest Internet Service Provider (ISP), launched an Internet music service tied to its AOL software. Despite its scanty features at the moment, the company expects to provide significant enhancements, which may seem tempting to AOL's subscribers. The move is also expected to boost the work at MusicNet, a joint online music service by AOL Time Warner, Bertelsmann, RealNetworks, and the EMI Group. Analysts view the initiative as the biggest test to date of the concept of paid Internet music services.
In the mean time, Napster's new owner Roxio, a CD-burning software developer, announced it would launch a redesigned online music service by the end of 2003. Roxio has also hired Sean Fanning, Napster's founder, to help build a legitimate service, working in cooperation with all major record labels.
More from: CNET News.com | Reuters (1) (2)
IRTF reinforces war on spam
The Internet Research Task Force (IRTF) created the Anti-Spam Research Group (ASRG) aimed at tackling the growing problem of unsolicited e-mail messages. The initial objectives of the group include defining the meaning of spam and establishing ways to track the sources of unwanted messages. The ASRG is widely seen as the first initiative, which will be able to strike at the technical core of the problem. Overseeing the IRTF, the Internet Engineering Task Force appears to have the most leverage in the industry, and the only, at the moment, group with the power of influencing the effectiveness of anti-spam efforts.
More from: IDG.net | Wired News
Ups and downs
 Hewlett-Packard posted a fiscal first-quarter profit exceeding analysts' expectations, but sales figures fell short of previous estimates.
Handheld computer maker Palm Inc. reported the company has cut about 19 percent of its workforce over the past three months. The cost-cutting measures triggered by slowing sales signaled signs of problems. Palm's shares tumbled 11 percent on the last day of February.
Software maker Autodesk, widely known for its architectural design suite AutoCAD, announced it expects modest, "6 to 9 percent" growth in 2003.
Netflix, an online DVD rental service, reported on Thursday its subscriber base had exceeded one million customers. The company's shares rose significantly on the news.
RealNetworks Inc. has reportedly taken an undisclosed stake at online music service Listen.com. The move is expected to transform the former competitor into a close partner, using RealNetwork's technology as a primary distribution platform.
Bankrupt software maker Peregrine Systems reported improperly booked earnings figures, cutting down almost 40 percent of the company's revenues over a period of three fiscal years.
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