|
December 2002 Volume 3, Issue 12
Editors Cherie W. Blackburn Robert W. Pearce, Jr. John C. McElwaine
1-800-237-2000 Nelson Mullins has more
than 275 attorneys firm-wide, with over 25 attorneys having
significant representation of e-commerce clients in areas including
patent, copyright and trademark protection; business planning,
securities and venture capital; and licensing, distribution and
contract preparation. Atlanta Contacts Neil Grayson Cherie
Blackburn Robert
Pearce John
McElwaine Charlotte Contact Jason
Sprenkle Myrtle Beach Contact Franklin
Daniels Columbia Contact Mark Dukes Greenville Contact Marvin
Quattlebaum William
Herlong CyberWatch is an Internet Law Group news digest published as a service to Nelson Mullins’ clients and friends. The articles are summaries of particular developments in the law and are not intended to be a solicitation or to render legal advice. This publication can be considered advertising under applicable laws.
CyberWatch
is a trademark of Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough, L.L.P. |
 |
|
|
“Out of Office” E-mails Helping Home Burglars Crooks never cease to amaze us. After buying thousands of e-mail addresses over the Internet, thieves are sending out mass mailings in order to obtain “out of office” auto-responses from individuals who are away on vacation. Thieves can often cross reference these responses with information available from online directories to discover the names, addresses and telephone numbers of the individuals out on vacation. In the United Kingdom, a criminal ring has joined forces to discover such addresses and share the wealth. One commentator says it is the equivalent of putting a note on your front door saying you are out of town and when you will return. Suggestions to avoid this problem have included redirecting e-mail inquiries to a colleague, not mentioning you are away on vacation, and certainly not putting personal contact information in the e-mail. Credit: vnunet.com New York Judge Allows Internet Wine Sales A federal judge in New York ruled recently that a New York law, which is similar to laws in 29 other states, is unconstitutional and cannot be used to ban out-of-state wineries from directly shipping their products to New York consumers. The New York law required that imported liquors be distributed only through wholesalers and retailers in order to ensure that sales taxes were paid and to keep minors from ordering such purchases. The judge determined the law was unconstitutional because New York allows in-state wineries to ship their product directly to New Yorkers. The judge ruled that because in-state wineries can sell their products over the Internet and ship directly to New York homes while out-of-state wineries were prevented from similar sales and shipment constituted direct discrimination against interstate commerce. Credit: wirednews.com Investment Banks Fined Millions For Not Keeping E-mails As part of a continuing probe by the Securities and Exchange Commission, the New York Stock Exchange and the NASD, five of Wall Street’s largest investment banks were fined a total of $8.25 million for not preserving their e-mails. Under current rules, securities firms are required to keep such e-mail records for at least two years so that these regulatory agencies have an opportunity to investigate firms for securities laws violations. Recently, Merrill Lynch paid $100 million dollars to settle securities allegations that were based almost entirely upon e-mails discovered by the regulators. All firms state that they will develop more adequate procedures for making historical e-mails available. Credit: siliconvalley.com Microsoft Boo-Boo Results in Customer Data Release The world’s premier technology and Internet company, Microsoft, has again found itself red-faced after Internet users were given access to a huge customer database with millions of entries. Commentators said that Microsoft had a poor internal security policy that allowed full access by the public to company folders containing confidential information, presentations, spread sheets and internal reports. After correcting the problem once, Microsoft accidentally began loading new confidential files to the public section of a server before finally pulling the plug on the server itself. Microsoft claimed that the confidential information was outdated, but refused further comments, explaining that Microsoft’s policy is not to discuss this kind of incident. Credit: wired.com Internet Sales Tax Moves Ahead The National Governors Association has been leading an effort to develop model legislation for the imposition of Internet sales taxes. Recently, representatives from 32 states approved this model legislation that will involve a method for taxing sales conducted over the Internet. Since a 1992 U.S. Supreme Court decision, states have been unable to force sellers that do not have a physical presence in a state to collect so-called “use” taxes. The Court ruled that with approximately 7,500 taxing jurisdictions across the country, it would be too complex and burdensome for Internet sellers to charge and collect sales taxes. The Court did say that the simplification of the existing system would probably permit the collection of such taxes. The approval of the model legislation by 32 states is a major move toward that simplification and if the continuing effort by the states is successful, this would be the first overhaul of the nation’s sales tax policy in more than 40 years. By one estimate, the states collectively lost revenue of approximately $13.3 billion dollars in 2001 and estimates are that the losses will rise to $45.2 billion by 2006. A recent congressional moratorium on the collection of taxes under the Internet Tax Freedom Act only prohibits the taxation on the use of Internet Service Providers and does not apply to sales taxes. Credit: internetnews.com |
||
