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IP: EU commissioners urge Internet business caution
From: David Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>
Date: Wed, 04 Jun 1997 16:51:27 -0400
Wednesday June 4 10:07 AM EDT EU commissioners urge Internet business caution By Neil Winton, Science and Technology Correspondent BRUSSELS, Belgium - Big business is dreaming of burgeoning sales across the Internet, but the European Commission is saying "not so fast," delegates to a conference were told Tuesday. European Commissioner for Consumer Affairs Emma Bonnie said many aspects of trade across the Internet's worldwide network of computers have to be carefully examined. Bonino was concerned about privacy and censorship, while another commissioner expressed concerns about potential dominance of the Net by strong companies. "We are aware of attempts to control these new multimedia markets," said European Union competition Commissioner Karel van Miert. "If big companies try to escape controls and dominate markets, we will step in." Representatives of high-technology companies could hardly contain their enthusiasm for the rich pickings they hope will soon be available from these online markets. "Europe can expect an exciting ride as we look ahead to the next 12 months," Sanjaya Addanki, IBM manager for Europe, the Middle and Africa, told the conference. "Europe has narrowed the gap with the U.S. and we are now about one year behind. Europe is getting Net-happy and actually getting wired up," said Addanki said. Various market research organizations have attempted to predict the scale of this new way of doing business. Most research presents charts with figures close to zero for the current year, with exponential growth predictions past the turn of the century. This week, British-based Datamonitor published its latest guesstimates, saying online consumer sales will reach $3.2 billion in Europe by 2001, up from an estimated $96 million for 1997. The major driver of this will be the travel business, which will account for 35 percent of 2001's online sales, according to Datamonitor. Lesser performers will be the clothes, computer software and hardware markets. Only about 1 percent of European homes are currently shopping online, but this should rise to 7 percent by 2001, when 33 million homes will have a personal computer and modem access to the Internet. Germany will be the leading market, Datamonitor said. Commissioner Bonino attempted to add some realism to the debate, saying: "This is major opportunity for companies and consumers but it is not without risk." She called for a debate on the issue over the next six months, and expressed concern that illegal activities like bomb making, drugs and crime could take place on an unprotected Net. "I don't have the answer; it's a complex problem," Bonino said. Another delegate to the conference, organized by The Wall Street Journal Europe, said it would be wrong if governments, especially European ones with little experience of the Internet, attempted over regulation which might impinge on development. "Any government which is not heavily involved (in online business) has no right to speak," said Roel Pieper, chief executive officer of Tandem Computers Inc. of the United States. Copyright, Reuters Ltd. All rights reserved Remember 19 June in San Fran http://www.eff.org/fillmore
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