Top executives launch e-commerce initiative
biz.yahoo.com
Friday January 15, 2:26 am Eastern Time
Top executives launch e-commerce initiative - WSJ
NEW YORK, Jan 15 (Reuters) - Top executives of 17 Internet, media and telecommunications companies have launched an initiative aimed at fending off government regulation of electronic commerce, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.
The initiative, called the Global Business Dialogue on E-Commerce plans to tackle a myriad of issues such as consumer privacy, taxation, and security, that face businesses as they seek to boost electronic commerce, the paper said.
Those attending the meeting included Steve Case of America Online Inc (NYSE:AOL - news), Gerald Levin of Time Warner Inc (NYSE:TWX - news), and Louis Gerstner Jr of International Business Machines Corp (NYSE:IBM - news), the Journal reported.
The meeting also included non-U.S. companies such as Japan's Fujitsu Ltd and Toshiba Corp , Germany's Bertelsmann AG (quote from Yahoo! UK & Ireland: BTGGg.F), and France Telecom SA .
Some privacy advocates and regulators are sceptical that business initiatives can adequately protect consumer privacy, and say that regulation is necessary.
The Global Business Dialogue is particularly concerned about the so-called EU Directive, a European Union policy that forbids companies from sending personal information out of Europe unless the destination country has certain privacy protections.
Last year, the industry attempted to self-regulate online privacy with the Online Privacy Alliance, a group formed by AOL, IBM and Time Warner, that proposed a seal of approval for sites that guarantee some level of consumer privacy.
The Global Business Dialogue members intend to offer their privacy proposals shortly.
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