Ray Van Eng (07/03/97)
Highlights of the paper include the following points: 1) There should be no new taxes for trades over the Internet that cut cross national borders. However, state and local governments should be allowed to levy Net taxes if they choose to do so. 2) The enactment of a global Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) will lay the foundation for electronic transactions with the use of digital signature and other authentication. In general, parties should be able to do business with each other under mutually agreed upon terms. 3) Consumer privacy especially those of children should be protected. People should be informed on what information is being collected and how it will be used. 4) Strive for effective copyright and trademark protection and a review on whether databases (e.g. a compilation of facts such as telephone numbers, movie listings etc.) should be copyrightable. 5) Electronic payment should not be regulated but should be dealt with on a case by case basis. Just days ago, the FDIC has decided not to regard the stored values in smart cards as "deposits" and as a result, this form of money is not federally insured. 6) Excessive fees from telecom monopolies that limit online use should be removed. The European Union, Australia and other places have also contemplated a "bit tax" on all data that crossed their Internet pathway. 7) Content restrictions designed for radio and TV should not be applied to the Internet. Access to online material should be controlled voluntary through the use of filtering technology, age verification and rating systems, industry self-regulation and discreet parental guidance. 8) Nations should not impose foreign content quotas and excessive regulation of advertising material. For example, Canada and France want national content laws imposed on broadcast industries to be extended to the Internet to preserve their cultural identities. 9) Governments should not interfere with standards and interoperability issues which are best handled through industry co-operation. A copy of the paper "The Framework for Global Electronic Commerce" is available online at the Whitehouse web site. |