According to the Justice Department, more than 130 people were recently arrested and more than $17 million was seized as part of the latest effort by law-enforcement agencies to crack down on Internet fraud.  The arrests were part of a nationwide initiative, called Operation E-Con, that's being coordinated by 43 U.S. attorney's offices, the FBI, the FTC, the Postal Inspection Service, and other state and local law-enforcement agencies within the United States and other countries.  Operation E-Con has carried out more than 70 search warrants, leading to formal charges or convictions in many cases and has been responsible for more than 90 investigations involving 89,000 victims of fraud.  According to the FTC, three years ago 31% of fraud complaints filed with the FTC involved the Internet; last year, 47% of complaints were Internet-related. Online auction scams have been one of the leading forms of fraud over the last three years, accounting for 46% of complaints referred to law enforcement in 2002.

Treasury Secretary John Snow and Commerce Secretary Don Evans have urged Congress to extend a ban on Internet-specific taxes that expires this November, believing that new taxes could slow adoption of high-speed Internet access. The moratorium, first passed in 1998, prohibits multiple and discriminatory taxes on Internet access fees and online traffic. Congress extended the ban in 2001 but it expires this year. The ban does not address online sales taxes, which are currently prohibited under a 1992 Supreme Court decision that forbids states from taxing catalog, telephone and other remote sales.

According to a report released by Shop.org, online sales could reach $96 billion this year, a 26% increase from last year. The figure is based on online transactions from Internet retailers, brick-and-mortar retailers and catalog companies.  Last year, online retail sales reached $76 billion, up 48% from the previous year.  Maturing categories like computers, travel and tickets already have a high penetration rate in their categories for overall retail sales, so the room for growth is not as great, according to Shop.org. In the computer hardware and software category, 34% of sales are expected to come from online transactions. Sales of all online tickets, including travel, events and movies, are expected to capture 20% of all ticket sales, while 15% of all book sales are anticipated to be online, according to the study.

Nearly 90% of government managers worldwide say they outsource activities that are "important or absolutely critical" in supporting services for citizens, according to a new study released by Accenture.  Among the activities and services most outsourced by the government are information technology applications and infrastructure support; finance and accounting; human resources and supply chain operations; and staff training and education. The Accenture survey found that government managers who said they outsourced to gain access to technology or to make their operations more efficient were more satisfied with their decision than those who outsourced primarily to cut costs.

According to many experts, business-to-business (B2B) exchanges have fallen below most people's radar screens and, in fact, B2B sites and online trading hubs have most often found themselves in the headlines for the wrong reasons, such as when Enron's energy-trading site became the focus of attention. However, the truth is that B2B is quietly trucking along. The only difference between the vision of yesteryear and the reality of today is that, instead of a few massive hubs, the Web is home to scores of smaller sites where businesses can trade their wares, reducing the expense, time and hassle of dealing with customers and partners. Companies gravitate to online supply purchasing when they see it has real benefits for them but the reality is that online buying requires a cultural shift and process changes before it can be effective. That takes time and patience. That is why the best approach may be to start slowly, with an idea that is workable and that fills an existing need. Do not expect customers to radically change their behavior as a condition of participating in a B2B exchange.  A recent University of Pennsylvania study found that 43% of independent hubs -- those not associated with a company already in business -- that existed in April 2000 were out of business by July 2002.

In an effort to boost corporate IT spending, IBM has rolled out an e-mail offering geared toward so-called deskless workers. This new venture, developed by the company's Lotus unit, can cost as little as $1 per user per month.  It was released a week after Hewlett-Packard, Sendmail and Intel announced they would team to pitch a similar solution to enterprises. Both moves target employees who spend their days on their feet or in the field (like factory and warehouse workers, retail clerks and airline staff) but who still could benefit from being connected to an enterprise-wide messaging system. This initiative is intended to enable enterprises that choose not to buy bells-and-whistles versions of IBM products to choose scaled-down or simplified versions. IBM is banking on customers buying a stripped-down version of its Lotus collaboration software for deskless workers as a way of cutting down on routine paperwork, such as corporate notices, through use of common workstations or kiosks. Many companies report that a significant percentage of their employees have no access to e-mail, either because of job function, location or other factors and as e-mail becomes more and more critical to productivity and business results, companies need a cost-effective way to extend e-mail to their entire employee base.  HP and its partners hope to tap the same customer base with their Workforce Mail, a Linux-based solution that HP says is ideal for workers ranging from hospital nurses to delivery drivers. 

E-COMMERCE RELATED EVENTS AND INFORMATION

The following are links to upcoming seminars and other events that our readers might have an interest in and/or other information related to e-commerce.  

Internet Security Systems, Inc., the worldwide leader in Dynamic Threat Protection™ solutions, today announced that it has been named to the Forbes.com “25 Fastest-Growing Technology Companies” list. The list ranks the top 25 fastest-growing technology companies throughout the U.S. based on revenue growth. Internet Security Systems ranks number 14 and is the only IT security company to make the list.

The Forbes 25 Fastest-Growing Technology Companies list can be viewed at http://www.forbes.com/2003/04/07/0407fasttechtable.html.