E-commerce newsletter makes its debut
Paris, 15 August 1999 -- The first issue of e-Business World, ICC's newsletter on elecronic commerce, takes up crucial issues that will determine the development of the new medium as a means of conducting business, including the assignment of domain names, prospects for keeping cyberspace dutyfree, privacy protection and cybercrime.
It was during Renato Ruggiero's watch as Director General of the World Trade Organization that e-commerce fir
st appeared on the WTO's agenda. In an exclusive interview ahead of the WTO ministerial in Seattle in November, Mr Ruggiero analyses the impetus e-commerce can give to trade liberalization over the next few years.
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) fulfils an essential function in keeping the fragile world of cyberspace together, but is definitely not aspiring to be a world Internet government, the chairman of the new Internet management body, Esther Dyson, argues in an e-Business World interview.
Ms Dyson says that ICANN is mainly about managing the technical underpinnings of the Internet. She stresses that the new organization introduces competition in the registration of domain names. She says that the Internet, while not in danger, is fragile and must be properly managed. "If we did the wrong things we could muck it up," she says.
ICANN, which was created in 1998, is the first body to be set up with the approval of governments for self-governance of the Internet by private stakeholders. Ultimately the organization will be tackling issues like whether additional top-level domain names - such as '.org', '.com', and '.net' - should be created.
Another article in e-BusinessWorld, which will be published every two months, looks at privacy and data protection on the Internet, with special attention to a European Union directive which prohibits export of data on individuals to countries that do not provide "adequate protection".
Charles A. Prescott, Vice-President of the US Direct Marketing Association, argues that through this directive Europe currently risks being left behind in the information and service economy future. "Means must be developed (contractual or otherwise) to satisfy Europe that data flows can be protected through a structure not inherent in the 'destination country'", he writes.
The September-October issue of e-BusinessWorld, out at the end of August, will look further at the issue of data protection in a side-by-side interview with two principal negotiators in the trans-Atlantic privacy dispute, one from the US and one from the European Union . e-Business World will also feature an interview with the new Secretary General of the International Telecommunication Union.
e-BusinessWorld may ordered from ICC's Business Bookstore or by contacting Click here to send a mail.
Telecommunications and Information Technologies