Posted 8:46 AM

eBusiness Grows Up

According to this story in The Register, Microsoft has joined with old friend VeriSign and a number of on-line retailers (Amazon, eBay and their ilk) to form "the Coalition on Online Identity Theft" [would the US branch be dubbed COITUS?], a dressed up lobbying group for on-line retail interests. While paying lip service to public d0-gooding (public education campaigns, self-help approaches for preventing identity theft and documenting online fraudulent activity), the real kicker was buried - "work with government to cultivate an environment that protects consumers and businesses". Look for lots of lobbying to keep taxes away from internet commerce, as well as laws which protect businesses from identity thieves. Stay tuned.