I think that we need to start thinking in a global perspective. Some recent articles that I have read suggest that the e-market in Europe after EMU may exceed the US and is more wide open. So we need to be looking for global entries and global capable US entries.
Sample Article:
21 April 1998
Euro and Internet could
fuel real estate market
By Kenneth V. Smith
Just over the horizon there are a growing number of signs that
Europe is developing a residential and commercial real estate
market that could surpass the United States in both activity
and technology.
In two weeks, the 11 member countries of the European
Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) will begin an irreversible
process of launching a unified economy 1 January 1999. The EMU countries are
Austria, Belgium, France, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, The
Netherlands, Portugal and Spain.
At first, the euro, as the new currency will be called, will exist only in electronic
form. By 2002, old paper and coin currencies such as the lira, mark and franc will
be taken out of a circulation.
Britain, Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland and Greece are not EMU participants,
but are nevertheless preparing for the euro currency for commercial transactions
across old borders in Europe.
In the new borderless Europe, citizens of one country can travel freely to other
countries, find new jobs, and start new companies. Both people and money will
be more mobile in the new Europe. There are still some national hurdles to jump
when buying real property, but more Europeans are starting to own homes and
commercial buildings beyond their traditional borders.
The Internet and the euro are not directly related, and one could advance without
the other. In the decades of planning, nobody could have anticipated how a
common European currency and Internet commerce might eventually change the
way real estate is sold and financed. But, the synergy of these two historical
developments could fuel an active real estate market that will make American
and Japanese investors and brokers envious.
Today, real estate brokers and mortgage lenders throughout Europe are
developing consumer oriented Web sites. Online marketing of European
properties has not yet reached the level in North America, but real estate on the
Web is developing rapidly. Anticipating more than local interest, many of these
Web sites advertising homes for sale are in two or more languages, with English
being the most common second language.
More importantly for the long range success in Europe of online commerce, there
are high level government and corporate initiatives to insure that citizens can be
guaranteed that their Internet transactions are secure and confidential.
To a much greater degree than Americans, Europeans are concerned about
privacy while conducting business online. Europeans worry that an e-mail might
be intercepted and read by unknown parties. This fear presents a barrier to
Europeans marketing real estate and making loan applications on the Web.
Consequently, high level executives of the European Commission (EC) are
getting directly involved in the complex technologies of digital signatures and
cryptography. Last month, the EC issued a paper entitled "Ensuring Security
And Trust In Electronic Communication: Towards A European Framework for
Digital Signatures And Encryption."
The issues are long and involved, but the bottom line is that Europeans don't
trust US law enforcement agencies and intelligence agencies. Consequently,
Europe is charting a different course than the US on Internet security and
management.
There has been a long simmering dispute in the US between the federal
government and software developers on how powerful encryption software can
and should be. The Clinton Administration, continuing earlier positions, wants
federal law enforcement agencies to have back door access to all encoded
messages. American software developers argue that such restrictions are
preventing them from selling to a global market.
"The Internet is rapidly becoming the principal infrastructure for electronic
communications of all kinds including electronic commerce," the EC said in its
recent position paper.. "The extremely rapid expansion of the Internet in recent
years is expected to continue, particularly in Europe where current growth rates
imply that Internet usage is doubling each year. The Internet will deeply influence
many areas of human activity such as education, culture and every day life. The
Internet is rapidly becoming an indispensable method for information provision,
and marketing and selling of services and products on-line."
To meet consumer and commercial demand, the EC wants unbreakable
encryption.
This week in Copenhagen, the European Commission Directorate General and
the Danish Ministry of Research and Information Technology are hosting the
European Expert Hearing on Cryptography. Experts from industry, the academic
world and government will discuss market trends, business needs and legal
issues surrounding cryptography. The hearing is seen as both political and
technical.
Some European banks are already moving toward encryption systems more
powerful than permitted US banks. For example, Nykredit Bank, Denmark's
largest residential mortgage lender with 550,000 active loans, is developing a
sophisticated Web-based loan application and refinancing service. But, Henrik
Hougaard, who manages the Nykredit's Internet services, said the Web site will
not be fully operational until powerful encryption is in place. He said the security
software will either be home-grown by Danish developers, or possibly French
cryptography, but definitely not a US product.
Last month, Den Norske Bank, Norway's largest financial services group
announced it had chosen software from Baltimore Technologies,
a world leader in encryption and certification technology, to implement a secure
banking infrastructure for retail customers. Baltimore Technologies is based in
Dublin, Ireland. |
