A recently signed appropriations bill contained an additional provision that several government agencies will need to get approval from law enforcement officials prior to purchasing IT products from suppliers that are from or have any connections with China. The U.S.-China Business Council has criticized the law saying that it unfairly targets Chinese firms and will
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An internal IRS document explicitly states that emails sent from an individual’s computer do not have reasonable expectations of privacy and lose Fourth Amendment protection allowing IRS investigators to view private emails, messages and other communications without requiring a search warrant. Although some precedent has been set in recent U.S. federal court cases, the IRS’
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In a recent article from the FDIC’s Supervisory Insights publication mobile payments are discussed in terms of understanding and managing risk for financial institutions. The FDIC states that banks may find that effective risk management with mobile payments requires partnering with several specialized parties, but also cautions that innovations in the mobile marketplace are driven
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The U.S. Supreme Court will soon decide the final ruling on a case between a book publisher and eBay seller, and while this individual case may not seem too important it could have far-reaching effects for eCommerce auction and marketplace sellers and websites. Read More
The United Kingdom’s Office of Fair Trading recently released their results from a study examining the most popular websites to ensure they complied with distance selling rules and other regulations. It was found that more than two-thirds of these websites were not in compliance with at least one consumer protection law. Read More
In December the UN’s International Telecommunication Union (ITU) will hold a meeting in Dubai to review the International Telecommunication Regulations global treaty which hasn’t been revisited since 1988. Representatives from all over the world will attend this conference to discuss several topics that will reform the treaty, but many are concerned that the meeting will
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In late May the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced they will soon formalize regulations for prepaid cards to better protect consumers. The agency is accepting comments related to prepaid cards and plans to release a final proposal for new regulations in 2013. Read More
The Netherlands recently passed net neutrality legislation becoming the first country in the European Union to do so and only the second nation in the world. In the United States, a major broadband provider’s practices come under scrutiny by a U.S. Senator calling for further investigation. Read More
The European Union’s Cookie Directive was adopted by member states in late May of 2011, but allowing up to a year to implement the legislation. Now approaching the deadline, reports have found that a high percentage of major organizations in the UK are not yet in compliance and that the costs of the opt-in cookie
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The European Central Bank has drafted a set of recommendations to increase the security of online transactions in the European Union. The expectation is to implement these recommendations as minimum standards for online payment security which internet payment service providers in the EU must meet by mid-2014. Read More
